Secretary of State John Kerry is joined by Israeli President Shimon Peres (L) and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas at the King Hussein Convention Centre on May 26, 2013 (Jim Young/AFP/Getty Images)
And the Palestinians, rightly, will never accept them. After all, they have considerably compromised from their pre-Oslo demand for the return of all of Palestine to 22% of it. They have recognized Israel’s right to security and, even without a peace treaty, they work hand-in-hand with the Israeli Defense Forces to defend Israel. Additionally, under international law, the occupied territories are just that – occupied – and must be returned to them.
What are they supposed to compromise on? They have nothing to give to Israel except an enhanced version of the security guarantees they already implement. Netanyahu likes to say that he will not sacrifice Israel’s security for any peace agreement. But he knows that he will never be asked to. Every significant proposal for Israeli-Palestinian peace contains extensive security guarantees for Israel. Notably, the Palestinians, who are infinitely weaker than Israel, don’t demand security guarantees, just their territory.
There is one last point as to why Kerry’s agreement will go nowhere. The Palestinians cannot trust the United States to be an impartial mediator, far from it. Even beyond the fact that the U.S. official expected to be chosen as mediator, Ambassador Martin Indyk, was long affiliated with AIPAC and then with the think-tank it created, the Washington Institute For Near East Policy, is the simple fact that the United States has unambiguously taken Israel’s side for decades.
There is no two-state solution. There is however a one-state solution. That state will be dominated by the Palestinians. It will stretch from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordanian border and from Lebanon to the Sinai. The Zionists will be demoted. And everyone will get along with everyone else. Or they won’t. But, that’ll be on them.
Israel will never give up the settlements which given them control of the acquifers and other water access. This is not about Biblical history; it’s about water.
And Israel will use what power it has to stay in power. I fear genocide in the future….