The Changes To the Saudi Peace Plan Still Suck
Only Israel could be offered these terms and be expected to go along with them:
Several other Arab diplomats said privately Monday that Arab leaders were seeking fresh ways to moderate their position without being seen as giving in to Israeli or American demands to change the 2002 offer. The diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, said Arab countries including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia would be proposing "a repackaging" of the deal. Under that repackaging, the Arab leaders would insist that Israel accept the 2002 Arab peace plan in principle before returning to any talks, but would also agree that the Palestinians and Arab countries would be ready to soften their conditions once negotiations began, the diplomats said.
This is a lie. This is how it always works - Israel is asked to accept something "in principle" with the promise of further negotiations. Then when those negotiations break down, whatever was promised is taken off the table - but Israel is still expected to give the concessions they offered "in principle" as if they were actually agreed. The "in principle" concessions because the new starting point for negotiations, and now Israel is pressured to offer something else for what they were originally supposed to get. It's not so much a bait and switch as open dishonesty backed by international pressure.
Even if this wasn't a lie, it would still be an outrage so surreal that it could only happen against Israel. What's at stake, of course, is the Saudi plan's inclusion of the so-called Right of Return, where three million of the world's most violent, anti-Semitic lunatics would have the right to literally invade and conquer the Jewish state. That's what the Saudis are offering to change if Israel agrees "in principle" to make a bunch of concessions that it has no reason to believe will ever be reciprocated.
We're going to say this once:
Accepting Israel's right to exist is a prerequisite to negotiations, not a point to be haggled over.
Countries that won their war don't negotiate over their right to exist. Only Israel could be attacked, successfully defend itself over and over again, and still be expected to play the loser in some kind of nudge-nudge wink-wink game with the Arab world. They can have a peace deal when they approach Israel with something a little more reasonable than "if you undermine your security and treat the Palestinians as if they defeated you in a war, we might consider recognizing your right to exist".
Who are we kidding? We're going to be futilely screaming this into the ether for at least the next year.
