Roger Cohen's "A Year of Waste": Unadulterated Rubbish

A "polite" condensed version of the following blog entry, which was submitted as an online comment in response to Roger Cohen's op-ed "A Year of Waste," was censored by The New York Times:

Roger "Iran is not totalitarian" Cohen has again outdone himself in yet another obsessive effort to bash Israel, entitled "A Year of Waste" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/15/opinion/15iht-edcohen15.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss). In this slimy attempt to blame the Jewish state for a lack of progress in talks with the Palestinians, Cohen writes:

"The Israeli insistence on up-front recognition from the Palestinians of Israel as a 'Jewish state' is absurd — a powerful indication of growing Israeli insecurities, isolation and intolerance. There was no such insistence a decade ago."

What is Cohen hiding from us this time? What in fact happened during the past ten years?

Ten years ago there were relatively few suicide bombing perpetrated by Palestinians in Israel: two in 1998, two in 1999, and five in 2000. Suddenly in 2001 there were 41 suicide bombings, in 2002 there were 46 suicide bombings, and in 2003 - when Israel slowly began to gain control over this horror - there were 24 suicide bombings. (For a list of these bombings, including casualties, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_suicide_attacks) Yes, things were different a decade ago.

But that's not all. A decade ago, the south of Israel was not being bombarded with mortar shells, rockets and missiles fired from Gaza at civilian targets. Since 2001, some 12,000 such projectiles have been shot at Israeli towns and cities. Five more rockets were fired at Israel yesterday. Small difference, huh, Roger?

In March 2008 I invited Cohen to visit the Israeli town of Sderot, which was under siege by Palestinian rockets. In my e-mail to Cohen, I suggested:

"Visit Sderot, opposite the Gaza strip. I would like you to meet some of the underprivileged families that live there - they cannot afford to move - and their children, who have been living with the rockets for the past five years and the 15 second routine to reach a bomb shelter. Some wet their beds rather than risk a trip to the bathroom."

Cohen's response:

"Thanks, Jeffrey. And will do."

But Cohen never took me up on my offer.

How important is it for the Palestinians to acknowledge Israel's right to exist? Consider that Israel is only 9 miles wide at its waist. If Israel unilaterally evacuates the West Bank - as it did Gaza - without Palestinian agreement to its right to exist, all of Israel's major cities except Eilat will fall within rocket range and can and should expect the worst.

Why should Israel expect the worst? Consider the results of a very recent survey of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza conducted by US pollster Stanley Greenberg (http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=229493):

"Just 34% said they accepted [a two-state solution], while 61% rejected it.

Sixty-six percent said the Palestinians’ real goal should be to start with a two-state solution but then move to it all being one Palestinian state.

. . . .

When given a quote from the Hamas Charter about the need for battalions from the Arab and Islamic world to defeat the Jews, 80% agreed. Seventy-three percent agreed with a quote from the charter (and a hadith, or tradition ascribed to the prophet Muhammad) about the need to kill Jews hiding behind stones and trees."

"[R]ecognition from the Palestinians of Israel as a 'Jewish state' is absurd"? That's very easy for Cohen to say, particularly given his decision in 2008 not to visit Sderot in southern Israel.

The Obama Middle East Peace Initiative: Destined to Fail

There were some glorious photo ops in Washington last week with Obama, Netanyahu, Abbas, Mubarak and King Abdullah II striding down long carpeted corridors wearing serious faces. Hillary, seated between Netanyahu and Abbas, smiled like the Cheshire cat. Tony Blair, flown into town as the representative of the Quartet, added his imprimatur to the festivities. But the necessary groundwork had not been laid by the bungling Obama administration, and all, unfortunately, is destined to come to naught.

The Palestinian Authority, i.e. Fatah, does not want an agreement, at least not now, and until they are ready, it simply isn't going to happen, no matter what goodies Washington offers them. Why? Because if you want peace in the Middle East, you need to be willing to die for peace. Anwar Sadat died for peace. King Hussein of Jordan proclaimed his readiness to die as a martyr for peace. Abbas, on the other hand, is planning to die peacefully in his bed, many years hence.

Examine the contradictory confused responses coming from Fatah in the aftermath of the Washington hafla (Arabic for party or celebration). Already being branded a traitor, Abbas is searching under the carpet for an excuse to abandon the talks. On Monday, Palestinian newspaper Al Quds reported that Abbas has now stated that if pressured on borders and refugees, he "will take his bags and leave," and Netanyahu was forced to call Abbas to coax him back to the negotiating table (http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?ID=187294&R=R1).

Meanwhile, Abbas's cronies also can't decide on which side of the fence they should be standing:

"Following last week’s ceremony in Washington, the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, gave a series of interviews to various media outlets.

In one interview, he was quoted as saying that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was not serious about reaching peace with the Palestinians and that his only goal was to waste time. Erekat later issued a denial, saying his words had been taken out of context.

* * * *

Making statements and denying them, often within hours, has become almost a daily event in the politics of the PA. The latest example was that of Fatah’s Muhammad Dahlan, who, in an interview with an Arab newspaper on Sunday, denounced Netanyahu as a 'swindler.'

After his remarks were published in Israel, the former security commander rushed to issue a denial, claiming that his words had been taken out of context."

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=187357

Iran and Syria, via their proxies Hezbollah and Hamas, will be fighting tooth and nail against any potential peace arrangement, and it is no accident that a Qassam rocket fell on the southern Israeli town of Sderot this morning.

Syria has historically opposed any Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement, which comes, in their belief, at the expense of a Syrian-Israeli arrangement, which, again in their belief, takes precedence.

But the bigger picture involves Iranian, i.e. Shiite, nuclear aspirations and the opposition of the Sunni Arab bloc to any attempt by Tehran to achieve hegemony in the region. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan are all callous to Palestinian interests, and Abbas for them is no more than an expendable pawn.

Obama specializes in photo ops, and wonderful photographs were taken of the American president pretending to play diplomat extraordinaire. However, expectations on the Palestinian street have now been created, and when the talks ultimately fail, we will be hearing in the suks of Ramallah, Hebron and Nablus, "I told you so."

Will we then see a resurgence of Hamas? A new intifada? I hope not.