Done and Done: New Palestinians Government In Open Violation of Israeli-Palestinian Treaties. No One Cares.
Hey, you remember that time in the 1990s, when Israel gave the Palestinians a ton of land and freed hundreds of terrorists? And remember how in return, the Palestinians promised that all future Palestinian governments would recognize Israel and cease supporting terrorism? And - finally - remember how the rest of the world guaranteed Israel's security in return for the "risks that Israel was taking for peace"? Yeah, those were good times:
On the other side of the tracks, Israel has found itself in a rearguard battle aimed at preventing the political avalanche, and it has clearly contributed to the occurrence of such an eventuality... The failure of the disengagement emboldened Hamas. Moreover, the elementary conditions set by the Quartet on Hamas were not decisive enough, and from the moment Abbas adapted his stances to those of Hamas at the Mecca summit and Israel did not renounce it, the road was paved to Abbas' inclination to accept that the unity government's platform would resemble the Hamas' fundamental positions.
Again, it's not like we can take any special credit for predicting that the Palestinian Authority would dodge its most fundamental treaty obligations. By now, even many left of center Israelis have given up on the idea that the Palestinians can be honestly brokered with (although we do think that it's fair to say we were a lot more long-winded on this issue than most other people).
Here's where the game gets particularly frustrating: of course Hamas and Fatah and the rest of the Palestinians won't recognize Israel despite decades of Israeli concessions. Of course the rest of the world will eventually shrug its shoulders and deal with the "new reality" of vicious and open calls for the destruction of Israel. That everyone's already resigned to.
The blood-boiling chutzpa will occur when the world again demands that Israel make concessions for peace - and promises that if the Palestinians double-cross Israel this time - well then, obviously the world will not stand for it! And of course, they'll be shocked - shocked - when Israel treats their assurances as somewhat less than ironclad.
References:
* Abbas has become Hamas [YNet]
* This Is How the Palestinian Authority Will Dodge Its Treaty Obligations. Again. [MR]
Previously:
* Ha'aretz Moves The Goalposts For The Arabs
* Reuters Misleads Readers About Hamas's Treaty Obligations, Misses Everything That's Important About Israeli-Palestinian Peacemaking
* Wherein We Express Skepticism About Britain's Commitment To Not Recognizing Genocidal Lunatics
