Peace talks leave death in their wake

There is a sameness about these things called ‘peace talks’. Press releases that precede them, the bullying that accompanies them, the false optimism that exudes from them and the inevitable murders that punctuate them. Always the murders.

Contributor Frederic Leder writes: “The old nonsense goes on as before. Arabs kill Israelis because they hate peace. Then they kill more Israelis because they really hate peace. Israelis talk because they really, really want peace and because Hillary and Barack say they have to. And the old Arab calculus comes into play again: kill enough Israelis and they will give up more land.”
The New York Times gave us the same reportage that always accompanies murders and ‘peace talks.’ After their ritual disparagement of the victims as ‘settlers,’ they then sulk over the effect the deaths, rarely using the words “terrorism” or “murders,” have on the ‘peace process.’ For them, it’s the ‘process’ that counts, not the people slaughtered along the way.
Israeli National News provides the description of the incident and victims that the New York Time did not. (Arutz Sheva, Sept. 1):
“Yitzhak and Talia Imes were the parents of six children, the eldest one being 24 … and the youngest one being a year and a half… Talya Imes was nine months pregnant when she was killed by the terrorists. (Editor’s note. So that would make 5 victims)
“Kochava Even Chaim was a teacher in Efrat. She left behind her husband and 8 year-old daughter. Her husband, one of the first Zaka first aid volunteers to arrive at the scene, discovered suddenly that his wife was among the victims.”
“Avishai Shindler had only recently moved to Beit Haggai with his wife…”
As inevitable as the murders themselves are, the irrelevant, gratuitous and innocuous responses by our Presidents (Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, you pick which one). “I want everybody to be very clear: The United States is going to be unwavering in its support of Israel’s security and we are going to push back against these kinds of terrorist activities,” says the President. “This is not going to stop us from not only enduring a secure Israel but also serving a longer-lasting peace”
Also on cue, out comes the same memo the Arab side of the table always reads. It’s the one done by their public relations firm for the time when the murder of Israelis occurs. (We wonder what they file the memo under: Inevitable killings? Gloss over quickly? Boilerplate for dead Israelis?) “The attack and its timing are meant to harm the PLO’s efforts to garner international support for the success of the peace process and its demand, in order to bring about an end to the occupation,” reads the statement. (U.S. Arab organizations have a similar memo that the media regurgitates that “condemns terrorism everywhere.”)
Of course, this is a superfluous statement since there is never any diminishment of the pressures on Israel to be coerced on things like Judea and Samaria, the Golan, Jerusalem, the right of return. Just as there wasn’t a lessening of pressure on Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon, abandon Gaza and, most recently, safeguard against arms being shipped into Gaza by sea. In fact, any move on the part of Israel to defend herself is condemned by the world as an act of aggression. Glenn Beck recently said that Israelis had a right to defend themselves, too. “Jews have a right to live just as everyone else does.” (see www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcewxqvEoIY)
As night follows day, there is more to the story than we see in the media. ZOA tells us that the four Israelis, whose car was first sprayed with bullets so that the killers could then drag them out and pump more bullets into them, were killed close to areas where checkpoints were recently dismantled in a gesture of ‘good will.’
It was U.S. uber-envoy George Mitchell who, in April of this year, did what U.S. envoys always do prior to a ‘peace process’ event: He urged Israel to “make a number of gestures to Palestinians, including release of prisoners, removal of checkpoints, transfer of authority…” Israel complied and several checkpoints were removed. Again, Mitchell’s statement, part of our State Department’s orchestrated kabuki dance prior to ‘talks,’ is constant no matter which recent President is in charge. Israel would do far better heeding the ZOA’s reminder that “…Arab terrorists compel Israel to create checkpoints and roadblocks in order to protect the lives of innocent Jews. If there was no Palestinian terror, there would be no Israeli checkpoints and roadblocks.”
And then there is all the media copy about who is talking to whom and who really wants peace — preoccupied public statements that are all but ignorant of what’s occurring on the ground. It’s all farce. As long as the right hand grasps for peace, it’s okay if the left hand murders.
Ferederic Leder again: “The truth is that Hamas controls…Fatah has no power to resist them. Fatah is the fake front to negotiate land from the Israelis. Hamas murders… teaches hatred… The more they kill the more Israelis will negotiate.
Meanwhile Danny Dayan, a resident of Barkan in Israel’s West Bank whom Haaretz calls the “Settler’s Chief,” called for Bibi’s return to Israel after the killings. “When the attack occurred, we called on the Prime Minister to return home. In my eyes, it is unfitting for Netanyahu to attend ceremonies and festive dinners as the four victims of the terrorist attack are being buried.”
Lest one think this particular killing was an outlier, a lone incident, news reports (almost exclusively in the Israeli media) reported a similar incident less than 24 hours later where the intended victims, Rabbi Moshe and Shira Morano, escaped with only injuries and were narrowly spared by circumstance the death that Hamas intended for them.
The day after Hamas murdered five Israelis and created seven orphans, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also chipped in with ‘peace process’ boilerplate. She commended Prime Minister Netanyahu for being in Washington and “for seeking (a) different future for children of Israel.” We, too, wish a different future for Israeli children.
Peace only comes when both sides want it. Today’s charade proves that Israel’s ‘giving peace a chance’ bears a price that Israelis pay over and over. It’s long past time to drop this synthetic “two-state solution” as the only way to peace. While peace may not be attainable in the present circumstance, Israel can and should, with or without the support of the United States, alter this circumstance. Arab acceptance of Israel’s right to exist and her citizen’s right to live would be that first step towards a true peace.