John Kerry’s Alternate Reality
On Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry gave a speech outlining his vision for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. This speech made clear why Kerry is merely talking about peace instead of achieving it. This confused man simply does not comprehend why his prior peace efforts — and all prior peace efforts — have failed.
The reason why there’s no peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians is not because of settlements, Israeli intransigence or Israel’s “right wing” politicians. The Israelis have repeatedly offered the Palestinians their own state in Gaza, East Jerusalem and almost all of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). The Israelis have made this offer as long ago as 1937 and as recently as 2008. In 2014, Prime Minister Netanyahu accepted John Kerry’s peace initiative and agreed to resume negotiations with the Palestinian with no preconditions.
The Palestinians have turned down every single one of these offers. And they refused to resume negotiations under Kerry’s peace initiative. They have made clear in both word and deed that they will not agree to any peace deal that requires them to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and end their conflict with Israel.
Simply put, the only real barrier to peace in the Middle East is the Palestinian refusal to recognize a Jewish state in any size, shape or form. Instead, Israel’s supposed partner for peace — the Palestinian Authority — is busy making cash payments to terrorists and their families while naming town squares, streets and parks after the worst of these terrorists. Having educated their citizens to hate Israel, Palestinian leaders cannot now turn around and make peace with her — not if they want to survive.
Secretary Kerry’s words will reward this Palestinian intransigence and embolden these Palestinian terrorists. But they will do nothing to bring peace.