Unconditional Surrender Should Be the Goal
PA official: Calling off summit preferable to failure
Senior Palestinian source says current state of negotiations between PA and Israel holds little promise for success in Annapolis peace conference; adds Abbas may prefer to call off summit if failure becomes likely
Ali Waked
Published: 11.05.07, 00:21 / Israel NewsIf US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice does not present the Palestinians with a "reasonable formula" for a joint Israeli-Palestinian success at the Annapolis conference, it is very likely that the summit would have to be postponed, a senior Palestinian source told Ynet Sunday.
"However, if we do have to participate, we expect the US and the Quartet to pressure Israel heavily, so as not to allow the summit to hurt Abbas' image or become a weapon in the Palestinian opposition's hands," he explained."If the conference fails, this would be the last nail in the coffin of negotiations. The public's faith in the diplomatic process is nonexistent as it is, and any failure in the summit would turn the process into s corpse," the source added. "Therefore, it's better to cancel the conference than to hold a conference that would end in failure."
Olmert: We have a partner for talks
Prime minister says Annapolis peace conference will serve as starting point for negotiations with Palestinians that may bring concrete results before President Bush's term in office ends
Roni Sofer
Published: 11.04.07, 21:08 / Israel News"Under the current circumstances, we have a partner and we are not willing to postpone the negotiations with the Palestinians to a time when this partner may not be able to fulfill the task," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday in a speech before the Saban Forum in Jerusalem.
"We shall not negotiate Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, or the Palestinians people's right to their own state," Olmert stressed, referring to the talks ahead of the upcoming US-sponsored peace conference.
"Annapolis will not be an arena for negotiations, but it will certainly be a starting point for the real effort to realize the two-state vision," he added.
The prime minister said that the Israeli government was aware of the weakness of the Palestinian leadership, but stated that, "Mahmoud Abbas – the Palestinian Authority's president, and Salam Fayyad – the prime minister, declare publicly and without hesitation… that they want to live side by side in peace. This is an opportunity and it must be seized."
Olmert claimed that the Palestinians were committed to fighting terror. "We will not let the Palestinian neglect their duties, as stipulated in the road map for peace, or shirk our responsibilities," he said.
According to the prime minister, the two sides will engage in rigorous talks immediately after the Annapolis summit, and some concrete achievements may be obtained even before President George W. Bush's term in office ends at the end of 2008.
Rice: It's time to take chances for peaceUS Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who also spoke at the event, said that it was vital for the US to support the moderate elements in the Palestinian Authority that were making an effort to fight terror.
Rice said that now was the time to take chances for peace.
Please read the above two articles, then ask yourself a very simple question.
How is this latest "peace" talks different from earlier efforts.
The Palestinians once again use the implied threat of violence going into the talks to get Israel to concede negotiation points and the American and Israeli leadership is totally out of touch with reality.
If Israel were to go to war with the Palestinians it would be over in a matter of days.
If Israel were to use the full force of the IDF to crush the Palestinians as America used it might to crush its enemies in World War Two then Israel at the very least might gain 20-30 years of subdued violence from our enemies the Palestinians.
But I think the shock to the Palestinians who have because of Israeli restraint convinced themselves that they have more power over Israel that they really do, would create new facts on the ground that could then bring about an end to the Palestinians as an internal threat to Israel.
The fact is that Israel has tried every tactic but what is needed to achieve victory over the Palestinians.
We are at war and the goal of a nation at war should not be a negotiated settlement but the unconditional surrender of your enemy.
