Israel Among the Nations
How schtizophrenic is the average Israeli when it comes to desperately seeking international acceptance? This much:
Nearly 49% of Israelis believe there is no Palestinian partner for negotiations even after the death of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, a new poll conducted by the Geneva Accords headquarters reveals.
According to the survey, 69% support reaching a permanent status agreement with the Palestinians, while 50% call for the resumption of negotiations. The poll was conducted two weeks ago among 600 Israelis who represent a statistical sample of the nation.
Follow the logic here very closely: half of Israelis know that there's no Palestinian with whom they can negotiate, but 70% want to reach a settlement with said non-existant Palestinian anyway. In fact, less than one-fifth of them are ready to completly give up on negotiating with the Palestinians completely. This comes dangerously close to the Wizard-of-Oz like world that European diplomats live in, where if you act like you have a heart than all you need is a clock (the Israelis aren't quite as bad, because there's at least an argument that negotiations can show the good faith to create a partner, even if that argument is specious - in the European case, it's a all-out fetishization of process as a substitute for the sentiments that are supposed to lead to that process in the first place).
Nonetheless, polls like this are enduring evidence of the Israeli desire for peace, harmony, and acceptance. And the political washouts who put together the Geneva Initative are always ready to play up on that desperate desire:
Marking one year since the Geneva launching of the initiative, 13 Israeli and Palestinian former and present government officials who support the initiative will this week begin appearing on TV, cinema, and Internet ads, which will be broadcast in both the Israeli and Arab markets in an effort to convince the public that there is a partner for peace... The Swiss government and EU-funded Geneva Initiative has received international praise.
People have railed against the specifics of the Geneva Initiatives ad nauseum, but suffice to say that any political solution that trusts an ideological nutcase like the Wakf to safegaurd other religion's holy places is a recipe for disaster. You want to see an actual relgious war? Let the Palestinians continue their deliberate and wanton destruction of the Western Wall and the Temple of Solomon and then see if the Israeli government can stand up to public pressure to storm the Dome.
But the really irksome aspect of the Geneva Initiative is the absolute lack of respect or esteem that it provides to Israeli sensibilities. Europe is very open about the ways in which it is not particularly inclined to care about diplomatic nicities when it comes to Israelis, but the Geneva Initiatives represent an entirely different level of interference - active electoral manipulation openly funded by European governments. Europe regularly humiliates Sharon and Israel both domestically and in international forums:
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom Sunday accused the European Union of bias in favor of the Palestinians... "It can't be that they adopt in advance 100 percent of the demands of the Palestinian side if they want to become a mediator or facilitator between us and them," he said.
EU officials' response to that frequent accusation is that Israel wants to expand its lucrative trade with the expanding EU bloc of around 450 million consumers without giving the Europeans more of a voice in Mideast peacemaking...
Talks on the EU's "Neighborhood Policy," seeking to draw nonmember neighbors closer to the union, have come up against Israeli objections to references in the draft agreement to the internationally backed "road map" peace plan, which calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel, because it ignores Israeli objections, the officials said.
The Israelis are also balking at references to the role of the so-called Quartet of Mideast peacemakers, including Europe and Russia, and to clauses on human rights and weapons of mass destruction.
Suffice to say that no diplomat would dream of demanding political abnegation in return for a trade deal from a country that he or she considered even marginally legitimate. That Europe displays such open contempt for Israel cannot simply be driven by diplomatic considerations, precisely because there's nothing diplomatic (in any sense) in their behavior. There's something else driving their loathing, and I don't think it's all that difficult to guess what it is. And yet nonetheless:
Despite his criticisms, Shalom said Israel is eager to thaw its often chilly relationship with Europe. "We are investing great efforts to promote out political and economic ties with the EU," he said Sunday. "Close relations with Europe are in our interest as well as theirs."
Nearly 49% of Israelis believe there is no Palestinian partner for negotiations even after the death of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, a new poll conducted by the Geneva Accords headquarters reveals.
According to the survey, 69% support reaching a permanent status agreement with the Palestinians, while 50% call for the resumption of negotiations. The poll was conducted two weeks ago among 600 Israelis who represent a statistical sample of the nation.
Follow the logic here very closely: half of Israelis know that there's no Palestinian with whom they can negotiate, but 70% want to reach a settlement with said non-existant Palestinian anyway. In fact, less than one-fifth of them are ready to completly give up on negotiating with the Palestinians completely. This comes dangerously close to the Wizard-of-Oz like world that European diplomats live in, where if you act like you have a heart than all you need is a clock (the Israelis aren't quite as bad, because there's at least an argument that negotiations can show the good faith to create a partner, even if that argument is specious - in the European case, it's a all-out fetishization of process as a substitute for the sentiments that are supposed to lead to that process in the first place).
Nonetheless, polls like this are enduring evidence of the Israeli desire for peace, harmony, and acceptance. And the political washouts who put together the Geneva Initative are always ready to play up on that desperate desire:
Marking one year since the Geneva launching of the initiative, 13 Israeli and Palestinian former and present government officials who support the initiative will this week begin appearing on TV, cinema, and Internet ads, which will be broadcast in both the Israeli and Arab markets in an effort to convince the public that there is a partner for peace... The Swiss government and EU-funded Geneva Initiative has received international praise.
People have railed against the specifics of the Geneva Initiatives ad nauseum, but suffice to say that any political solution that trusts an ideological nutcase like the Wakf to safegaurd other religion's holy places is a recipe for disaster. You want to see an actual relgious war? Let the Palestinians continue their deliberate and wanton destruction of the Western Wall and the Temple of Solomon and then see if the Israeli government can stand up to public pressure to storm the Dome.
But the really irksome aspect of the Geneva Initiative is the absolute lack of respect or esteem that it provides to Israeli sensibilities. Europe is very open about the ways in which it is not particularly inclined to care about diplomatic nicities when it comes to Israelis, but the Geneva Initiatives represent an entirely different level of interference - active electoral manipulation openly funded by European governments. Europe regularly humiliates Sharon and Israel both domestically and in international forums:
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom Sunday accused the European Union of bias in favor of the Palestinians... "It can't be that they adopt in advance 100 percent of the demands of the Palestinian side if they want to become a mediator or facilitator between us and them," he said.
EU officials' response to that frequent accusation is that Israel wants to expand its lucrative trade with the expanding EU bloc of around 450 million consumers without giving the Europeans more of a voice in Mideast peacemaking...
Talks on the EU's "Neighborhood Policy," seeking to draw nonmember neighbors closer to the union, have come up against Israeli objections to references in the draft agreement to the internationally backed "road map" peace plan, which calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel, because it ignores Israeli objections, the officials said.
The Israelis are also balking at references to the role of the so-called Quartet of Mideast peacemakers, including Europe and Russia, and to clauses on human rights and weapons of mass destruction.
Suffice to say that no diplomat would dream of demanding political abnegation in return for a trade deal from a country that he or she considered even marginally legitimate. That Europe displays such open contempt for Israel cannot simply be driven by diplomatic considerations, precisely because there's nothing diplomatic (in any sense) in their behavior. There's something else driving their loathing, and I don't think it's all that difficult to guess what it is. And yet nonetheless:
Despite his criticisms, Shalom said Israel is eager to thaw its often chilly relationship with Europe. "We are investing great efforts to promote out political and economic ties with the EU," he said Sunday. "Close relations with Europe are in our interest as well as theirs."
