Friday, January 31, 2014

Careful Mr. Kerry; This Tomato Might Explode but NOT Turn into Heinz Ketchup....

Today, I am sending you this note from the capital of Jordan, Amman.

I keep hearing about the importance of the latest round of negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis. Mr. Kerry thinks he can solve an age old problem and I generally applaud his efforts. However, I have been to this movie before so let me tell you how it ends (sorry for being a spoiler).

The process that is currently being executed is not really a negotiation; its John Kerry and the Obama administration imposing the solution they think will work in their minds on both sides. There is some merit to this type of process when you know there is much difference between the split parties but it also shows a deep misunderstanding of the nature of the problems in the conflict. The main problem is that Israelis want PEACE and SECURITY and the Palestinians want the Israeli's DEAD and OUT of "their" county. This brings to surface a big undertone of mistrust between the sides which in my opinion cannot be bridged. Think I am inaccurate? Just look at the texts books that children are being given in class in the Palestinian territories describing Jews and Christians as monkeys and pigs and the complete hatred that is being entrenched into their young minds about Israel. In Israel, children are being thought about Peace and Hope.

So, indeed this is an important time that we are facing in the conflict in the Middle East. However, its again a strategic mistake by people that do not understand the issues at hand.

There is only ONE way to try and solve this problem and that is for the two sides to sit down and talk and have two real LEADERS that will take hard decisions and reach an agreement on their own, not through America or the EU imposing any terms.

What we do need to expect now is another huge conflict. In my opinion, an agreement will be agreed too reluctantly by the two sides BUT.. the fringes of the political sides of the two parties will create major problems including a big increase in the terrorist attacks on Israelis from both the Iranian controlled Gaza South and from the West Bank. These will derail the actual process and here we are, back to square one.

I hope I am wrong but as I said, I have been in this movie before and it does not end happily.








No comments:

Post a Comment