JPost Khaled Abu Toameh
The Palestinian Authority leadership's hysterical, hasty and clearly miscalculated response to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's speech at Bar-Ilan University on Sunday night is likely to boomerang because it makes the Palestinians appear as "peace rejectionists."
The PA, perhaps, has every right to be angry with Netanyahu's statements. However, its leaders should have been more careful in choosing the right words to express their sentiments.
Even before he completed his speech, several PA officials and spokesmen used every available platform to declare their total rejection of Netanyahu's ideas, especially with regards to the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state and recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.
Some went as far as hurling personal insults at Netanyahu, branding him a liar, a fraud and a swindler. Others hinted at the possibility that, in the wake of his strategy, the Palestinians would now have to resort to another intifada.
PA representatives are now saying that Netanyahu "cannot even dream of finding one Palestinian to talk to."
One senior official in Ramallah announced shortly after the prime minister finished his address that the Palestinians won't resume peace talks with Israel for at least a thousand years.
The harsh response of the PA is the direct result of high hopes that its leaders have pinned on the administration of US President Barack Obama.[...]
It is always difficult to handle when you think you have your opponent on the mat ready for the pin and he suddenly reverses things and puts you in the same position.
ReplyDeleteAfter various anti-Israel statements by Obama, Hillary and the EU, the Arabs had ever reason to believe that an armed invasion by NATO to liberate Palestine a la Kosovo was imminnent. This speech completely set that hope back.
Netanyahu did leave an Achilles heel in his speech though. Now all the Arabs have to do is say "Jewish state" and they will be back in the commanding position without any need to actually compromise on anything.