Britannia Radio

WILLIAM K. LANGFAN

Member of the Board

Freeman Center for Strategic Studies

 FAX # (561) 533-5118

 

 

 

May 27, 2010

 

Dear Editor:

 

President Abbas has made statements on Egyptian TV State Nile on May 26, 2010 which clearly exemplify the illogic of a peace meeting between the Palestinians and Israel at this time.

 

1.      The Palestinians have been hijacked by Iran and that “Palestinian Unity is not in our hands.”

2.      Peace could be achieved in one week if Israel would pursue it.

3.      The second intifada was one of the biggest mistakes of our lives and that Arafat did not want the intifada to spread, but he was unable to stop it.

4.      The Palestinians are boycotting West Bank products and not products from Israel because West Bank products are produced on “our” land.

 

Peace is not an empty word.  Peace connotes that the leaders of a country have the authority to enter into an agreement, that they intend to comply with the norms of relations between countries, and that they have the ability to reasonably control the conduct of its populace.

 

Abbas statements #’s 1 and 3 unequivocally prove that he does not have the capacity to enter into a meaningful agreement.  The inability to prevent intifadas or other types of attacks has been amply illustrated by Abbas statement #3.

 

Abbas statements #2 is an example of Abbas puffery that does not even warrant a response. Abbas in #4, perhaps unwittingly, has indirectly indicated that Israel is not “our land” by saying that the Palestinians are boycotting products from the West Bank and not products from Israel because they are being produced on “our land.”  I have never heard a Palestinian leader say that Israel is not “our land.”

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

William K. Langfan