US Continues to Exercise "We Were Just Kidding" Clause for Israeli Treaty, Human Rights
The United States continues to pressure Israel to abrogate its rights under the Oslo Accords and to allow Palestinians to vote for Hamas in East Jerusalem. We wonder if the imposition of the pressure goes anything like this: "sure, you signed a treaty... but come on, nobody really expects Israeli treaty rights or Arab treaty obligations to be enforced... oh, don't act so surprised... Egypt allows weapons smuggling in violation of Camp David, normalization with Jordan is a joke in violation of that peace treaty, the UN notoriously exceeds the legality of its already pro-Palestinian mandates." Probably not, but at least that would be more honest:
American envoy to the Middle East C. David Welch said Friday during a visit to Ramallah in the West Bank that the United States firmly believes that Palestinians everywhere are entitled to vote in the January 25 Palestinian legislative elections, Israel Radio reported. "We want to ensure that residents will feel safe and free to vote," said Welch.
Welch, along with U.S. deputy national security adviser Elliot Abrams, met Friday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. The radio also reported that chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that Abbas emphasized during the meeting the importance of the Palestinian vote particularly in East Jerusalem, which Israel has threatened to ban. Abbas requested Friday Israel remove checkpoints to allow free movement of candidates and constituents.
So the Palestinians think that what Israel should do is (a) open up all movement for any Palestinian within the West Bank and (b) remove restrictions on Palestinians entering and leaving the rest of Israel by particularly giving them access to East Jerusalem. Well, that would be reasonable, except for all of the terrorists who would take these humanitarian gestures - as they have taken so many past ones, especially the lifting of curfews and the removal of checkpoints - to send waves of suicide bombers into Israeli cities. How about instead of giving terrorists a symbolic victory by allowing Hamas electoral activity in East Jeruslaem; and how about instead of allowing terrorists to commit an actual atrocity by letting them into Israeli cities... how about instead of those things, Israel asks that it be protected as promised by treaties and that the Palestinians control their terrorists before Israel effectively opens up all its borders? Too unrealistic, you think?
American envoy to the Middle East C. David Welch said Friday during a visit to Ramallah in the West Bank that the United States firmly believes that Palestinians everywhere are entitled to vote in the January 25 Palestinian legislative elections, Israel Radio reported. "We want to ensure that residents will feel safe and free to vote," said Welch.
Welch, along with U.S. deputy national security adviser Elliot Abrams, met Friday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. The radio also reported that chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that Abbas emphasized during the meeting the importance of the Palestinian vote particularly in East Jerusalem, which Israel has threatened to ban. Abbas requested Friday Israel remove checkpoints to allow free movement of candidates and constituents.
So the Palestinians think that what Israel should do is (a) open up all movement for any Palestinian within the West Bank and (b) remove restrictions on Palestinians entering and leaving the rest of Israel by particularly giving them access to East Jerusalem. Well, that would be reasonable, except for all of the terrorists who would take these humanitarian gestures - as they have taken so many past ones, especially the lifting of curfews and the removal of checkpoints - to send waves of suicide bombers into Israeli cities. How about instead of giving terrorists a symbolic victory by allowing Hamas electoral activity in East Jeruslaem; and how about instead of allowing terrorists to commit an actual atrocity by letting them into Israeli cities... how about instead of those things, Israel asks that it be protected as promised by treaties and that the Palestinians control their terrorists before Israel effectively opens up all its borders? Too unrealistic, you think?
