In a striking rejection of relentless international efforts to broker new talks, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said Monday that the Palestinians will “never” return to direct negotiations with Israel.Just imagine the international reaction if an Israeli official says that they have no intention to negotiate again, ever, with Palestinians. And compare it with the utter silence that this assertion gets.
Peace talks collapsed in April 2014 and since then, the situation has deteriorated, with the prospects of fresh dialogue appearing more remote than ever. But Malki said that one-on-one talks with Israel were out of the question.
“We will never go back and sit again in a direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations,” Malki told a press conference. He is visiting Japan with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was due to meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later Monday.
Malki stressed that a multilateral framework to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is needed and he praised an initiative discussed late last month by France to revive plans for an international conference to end the conflict.
Thanks to years of coddling, the Palestinians now insist that the world impose a solution where they do not have to make any concessions. They just keep saying "no" - and launch a violent uprising every decade or so - because that strategy has helped them reach a better political position than actual pesky negotiations that involve a give and take.
But in case the world needs more of a push, Malki adds a little threat:
And he warned that without international involvement, a vacuum will be left that may end up being filled by the Islamic State jihadist group.If anyone takes the time to actually think about this threat that a lack of brokers will lead to a takeover of the territories by ISIL, they would realize that this is the best argument to maintain Israel's military presence in those areas!
“If Daesh take advantage of lack of any brokers… then of course, they might come and try to fill it,” he said, referring to Islamic State.
“This is very dangerous,” he added.
“If the Americans are giving up and the Europeans don’t have the courage to do anything and Arabs are really worried about their own problems, what do you expect? Extremists around might take over.”
Malki is also admitting that his people are susceptible to radicalization, meaning that the school curricula and official PA media is doing nothing to combat radical Islam. In fact, they are instrumental in encouraging extremism, because in Arabic the message is all about Al Aqsa and fire and blood.
But clueless reporters and politicians will not think too hard about this and simply accept that Arabs become radical Islamists naturally.
Malki then moves onto the other myth that the media has been feeding:
Malki said the new surge in violence has its roots in the Palestinians’ humiliation and desperation after decades of occupation.
I've debunked this before. In Arabic, there have been only two reasons given for the violence: Jews on the Temple Mount and Jews killing those who try to kill them. That's it. The "humiliation" and "frustration" excuses are only given to gullible Westerners.
Malki pointed to the ongoing Israeli control of the West Bank, which began in 1967, saying Palestinians born under it have seen nothing “but humiliation, soldiers’ check-points, deaths and killing.”And the establishment of 14 universities, where none existed before 1967.
And a life expectancy rate being raised from 48 to 72.
And the adult literacy rate going up from 88% to 94%, with the youth literacy rate at nearly 100%.
And an infant mortality rate plummeting from 60/1000 to about 15/1000.
And virtually everyone joining the electrical grid.
And the establishment of a "state" recognized by most countries.
And an independent police force.
And an Olympic team.
And international awards for films and art.
But for the purposes of speaking to the Western media, they have had nothing since 1967 besides death and humiliation.
These guys will keep lying and threatening and trying to blackmail the West as long as the West doesn't push back and call them out to be liars. Which will never happen, because you never know how violently they would react when they really are humiliated.
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