Tel-Chai Nation

Here's some extra news on Israel's government doing the right thing by standing up to bad George Mitchell:

In a direct challenge to President Barack Obama’s commitment to rejuvenate moribund Mideast peace talks, Israel on Thursday dismissed American-led efforts to establish a Palestinian state and laid out new conditions for renewed negotiations.

Leaders of Israel’s hawkish new government told former Maine Sen. George Mitchell, the special U.S. envoy, that they aren’t going to rush into peace talks with their Palestinian neighbors.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he’d require Palestinians to accept Israel as a Jewish state in any future negotiations — a demand that Palestinians have up to now rejected — Israeli government officials said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Obama’s envoy that past Israeli concessions led to war, not peace.

There ya go! Not that Mitchell is listening of course (and we can't expect Obama to do the same either), but they are quite right: quality can't be rushed. What's important now, if you ask me, is making improvements within Israeli society itself: economy, common sense and conduct, and even employment. There's even the menace of Iran to consider. The "peace process" is something that can only come later.

Found through Hot Air, where I see that Ed Morrissey seems to have learned something:

On that point, it’s hard to argue. Ariel Sharon dismantled settlements in Gaza and pulled the occupying army out in 2004 after accepting the Bush-Rice “road map for peace” the previous year. Instead of stabilizing Gaza and allowing for responsible self-rule, Gaza became more radical than before. In 2007, Hamas staged a coup d’etat and took full control over the territory and expanded its missile and rocket attacks on Israel. The IDF has had to conduct major military operations twice in Gaza since then, and have also had to conduct many smaller operations to pinpoint launch sites.

I guess this suggests that Morrissey has come to realize that Sharon's actions were wrong from quite a few perspectives. If so, I thank him for that. But to be sure, he's still got a long way to go.

Labels: islam, Israel, United States