{"id":68581,"date":"2019-04-07T17:05:01","date_gmt":"2019-04-07T15:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=68581"},"modified":"2019-03-29T08:49:01","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T06:49:01","slug":"24-05-38","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=68581","title":{"rendered":"THE MOST UNREALISTIC CAMPAIGN PROMISE"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>THE MOST UNREALISTIC CAMPAIGN PROMISE<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

DOV LIPMAN<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2018ISRAEL HAD a female leader (Golda Meir) more than forty years ago, while in America they\u2019re still arguing about the glass ceiling and wondering whether a woman can be trusted with the highest office in the land.\u2019. (photo credit: REUTERS)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Campaigns are traditionally filled with promises, as parties pledge many things to voters who are then left to determine what they believe to be true, or even realistic. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is one promise being made by some parties that I can confidently declare as unrealistic.<\/span><\/p>\n

During my first year as a member of Knesset, I was invited to meet with \u201cmoderate\u201d Palestinian leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n

These were not actual peace negotiations, but a gathering held away from Israel for a few days in a relaxed, comfortable setting, to give new Knesset members and Palestinian ministers the chance to get to know one another and speak openly and candidly.<\/span><\/p>\n

I learned a lot from these meetings, and after learning about the living conditions their leaders don\u2019t seek to change, felt bad for the innocent Palestinians who suffer from inadequate basic services and lack hope for a better life.  <\/span><\/p>\n

But the most important lesson I learned came on the last day. I approached the man often referred to as \u201cthe most moderate\u201d Palestinian leader. I asked him to please tell me the bottom line. <\/span><\/p>\n

What would it take for the Palestinians to come to a final-status agreement with Israel?<\/span><\/p>\n

He first made me promise that I would never quote him by name, which I agreed to, and then he answered: <\/span>
\n\u201cWe would require that Israel withdraw from the 1967 lines \u2013 completely. No major settlement blocs for Israel, and of course, dividing Jerusalem. We would require a right of return for at least 100,000 Palestinians. And we would require all Palestinian prisoners to be freed from Israeli jails.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I was stunned.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let us remember, in all the negotiations with the Palestinians, it has been a given that the major settlement blocs of Gush Etzion, Ma\u2019aleh Adumim and Ariel would remain in Israel, and that the Palestinians would be given land swaps to make up for that \u201clost\u201d land. A right of return for 100,000 Palestinians has never been on the table. <\/span><\/p>\n

But I decided to focus on his last \u201ccondition,\u201d the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. I asked if he meant to include the murderers of the Fogel family, the ones who entered the Itamar settlement on a Friday night, broke into the family\u2019s home, and butchered parents and their children while they slept in their beds. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOf course,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

I ASKED HIM if he understood that even the Meretz Party, the most left-wing Jewish party in the Knesset, would never agree to that. I also pointed out that there have been a few Jews who have killed innocent Palestinians, and Israel has prosecuted and incarcerated them. <\/span><\/p>\n

It would never cross my mind to release them from Israeli jail in the construct of an agreement with the Palestinians. How could he suggest that these barbaric murderers of the Fogel family, and hundreds of other terrorists who killed innocent Israelis, be released from jail simply because there is an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause they are freedom fighters,\u201d he replied, \u201cand at the end of a conflict all prisoners of war must be returned.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I told him that Israel would never agree to that. And then he said the key words, \u201cSo, we won\u2019t have a deal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This was the most \u201cmoderate\u201d Palestinian leader, making it clear that the demands from the Palestinian side mean that they will never agree to a deal with Israel. All their calls for negotiations and two states side by side are essentially a farce. <\/span><\/p>\n

I recently came across a video clip in which Golda Meir asks the obvious question regarding calls for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. \u201cPeople say to us, \u2018Go back to the borders of 1967 and then there will be peace,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cWe were in the borders of \u201967 in May and June of 1967. <\/span><\/p>\n

Why was there war? And immediately after the war we said, \u2018Let us sit down and negotiate peace.\u2019 They didn\u2019t do it. The quarrel with the Arabs is not a quarrel for a piece of land.  It\u2019s not for territory. It\u2019s not for anything concrete. They just refuse to believe that we have the right to exist at all.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

This was confirmed to me in my conversation with this Palestinian leader.<\/span><\/p>\n

As we approach elections, I feel the need to warn readers to be wary of any party that blames Israeli leaders for not doing enough to resolve the conflict, and suggests that they will lead Israel to an agreement with the Palestinians based on the two-state model. <\/span><\/p>\n

They may mean well, but it is clear to me this vision is not attainable because of the Palestinian leadership, and that trying to make it happen will only hurt Israel. And those who indicate that they will initiate unilateral withdrawals are simply playing into the hands of the patient Palestinians, who will continue their anti-Israel efforts regardless of disengagements or other actions which make us think we are solving this centuries-old conflict.<\/span><\/p>\n

The time has come for new ideas and proposals regarding how to manage this complex conflict, while also taking steps to improve the quality of life for Palestinians living in Palestinian areas. And I look forward to assessing any new initiatives from parties bold enough to acknowledge the truths revealed to me by this \u201cmost moderate\u201d Palestinian leader.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The writer served as a member of the 19th Knesset.  <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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THE MOST UNREALISTIC CAMPAIGN PROMISE DOV LIPMAN \u2018ISRAEL HAD a female leader (Golda Meir) more than forty years ago, while in America they\u2019re still arguing about the glass ceiling and wondering whether a woman can be trusted with the highest office in the land.\u2019. (photo credit: REUTERS) Campaigns are traditionally filled with promises, as parties […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68581"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68581"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68803,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68581\/revisions\/68803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}