"Has the number of Israeli Jews now living in East Jerusalem and the West Bank become so much larger — more than 540,000 — that they are immovable?"
Yet the overwhelming majority of these Israeli Jews live in areas which, as was agreed in past negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, would be retained by Israel pursuant to any peace arrangement and swapped for Israeli land. The territorial size of these Jewish settlements, concerning which Friedman is making such an issue? According to none other than Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, they comprise only some 1.1% of the West Bank (see: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/erekat-olmert-offered-palestinians-territorial-equivalent-of-west-bank-1.393484).
Friedman proceeds to ask if it is a "a fantasy to expect any Israeli or Palestinian leader to have the strength to make the huge concessions needed for a two-state solution," before describing what he terms the "Kerry Plan":
"The 'Kerry Plan,' likely to be unveiled soon, is expected to call for an end to the conflict and all claims, following a phased Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank (based on the 1967 lines), with unprecedented security arrangements in the strategic Jordan Valley. The Israeli withdrawal will not include certain settlement blocs, but Israel will compensate the Palestinians for them with Israeli territory. It will call for the Palestinians to have a capital in Arab East Jerusalem and for Palestinians to recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. It will not include any right of return for Palestinian refugees into Israel proper."
The "Kerry Plan"? Sorry, Tom, but this is in essence the plan that was already offered to Palestinian President Abbas, currently in the tenth year of a four-year term of office, by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert . . . and which was already rejected by Abbas. (So much for Israeli leaders lacking "the strength to make the huge concessions needed for a two-state solution.")
Or in other words, Kerry is making a "daring" offer of what Olmert was already prepared to do in 2008.
Friedman concludes:
"But if either or both don’t agree [to "his" plan], Kerry would have to take his mission to its logical, fanatical conclusion and declare the end of the negotiated two-state solution. (If not, he loses his credibility.)"
But everyone, except for Kerry, who once declared that psycho-killer Bashar al-Assad is his "dear friend," saw this coming. (The picture atop this blog entry shows John Kerry and his mass murderer buddy having a cozy dinner with their wives in Damascus.) Yes, Kerry long ago lost his credibility.
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon recently observed that the American secretary of state has been "acting out of an incomprehensible obsession and a messianic feeling" (see: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/14/us-palestinians-israel-kerry-idUSBREA0D0IY20140114).
Well, Ya'alon was wrong. Unbeknownst to Ya'alon and a mealymouthed, sycophantic Friedman, Kerry is simply a moron.
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