Links

Evelyn Gordon at Commentary:

Everyone knows Israel has yet to satisfy Palestinian demands; the Palestinians proclaim this nonstop. But few people even know what Israel’s demands are, let alone that the Palestinians have rejected every single one.

And unless Israel starts telling them, they never will.

Meryl Yourish:

Oh, wait—the Gazans aren’t starving anymore? There’s not a humanitarian crisis? They’re simply—unhappy? Wait, wait—how come the Gazans can’t leave? Did the AP cover the history of exactly why Gazans are unable to enter Israel and Egypt freely?

Khaled Abu Toameh at Hudson NY:

A president whose term in office expired a long time ago, and a prime minister who won about 2% of the vote when he ran in an election, have now been invited by the US Administration to hold direct peace talks with Israel on behalf of the Palestinians.

The 18-member PLO Executive Committee, which met in Ramallah last week to approve the Palestinians' participation in the direct talks with Israel, is dominated by unelected veteran officials.

Only nine PLO officials attended the meeting. The PLO constitution requires a minimum of 12 members for a quorum. This means that, contrary to reports in the Palestinian and international media, Abbas and Fayyad do not have the support of the PLO committee to negotiate directly with Israel.

Also, Happy Birthday CiF Watch!