Parsing Netanyahu's Words

PajamasMedia has published my article on Netanyahu's about-face on reciprocity and demilitarization, two key indicators that his tough stance on Israeli security may be weakening.

Israeli Tree-Planting...in Palestine

The international media always enjoys portraying the "undue" hardships Israel imposes on Palestinian life -- from the security checkpoints it sets up near West Bank cities to prevent Palestinian terrorist travel to demolishing the homes of suicide bombers to deter others from following their example.

Here's quite a different tale only reported in the Israeli and Jewish press:

In November, employees of Israel's Jewish National Fund, including Arab citizens of Israel, helped Palestinians plant 3,000 trees near the site of a planned, new Palestinian city on the West Bank. Says Suhil Zaydan, a foresty manager for the JNF: "We contributed with our know-how, by advising on how to prepare the ground for the planting and how public gardens should be planned, as well as the best times for planting, and what kinds of trees it is preferable to plant. We did not talk about politics and we shall not talk about it."

The JNF's actions illustrate exceptionally commendable goodwill toward Israel's Palestinian neighbors.

Fearing Negotiations, Palestinians Add a Precondition

Palestinian leaders are afraid to restart peace negotiations with Israel because they want to avoid being pressured to make concessions to Israel. That's mainly why Israel agreed to a 10-month settlement construction freeze -- because it called the Palestinians' bluff and knew they wouldn't reciprocate anyhow.

Now that Netanyahu has taken steps like the freeze, eased travel restrictions on goods and people in the West Bank, and accepted in principle a two-state solution, to avoid negotiations Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is adding new preconditions to renewed peace talks. In a speech to the PLO Central Committee in Ramallah -- which is meeting to extend Abbas's term in office rather than hold elections in the West Bank and Gaza, where Hamas is in control and could poll well -- Abbas now says that Israel's agreeing to specific borders beforehand is a precondition of renewed negotiations, whereas before he only called for a settlement freeze.

This is obstructionism and the world community -- and especially the Obama Administration -- should call him out on it and insist that the Palestinians relent and reciproate Israel's goodwill. If they refuse, the world community ought to withhold from the Palestinian Authority legitimacy and financial support.

"Thanks for Calling"

Palestinians in Gaza should be telling Israel, "Thanks for calling."

According to Israel's Foreign Minister, Israel has made some 90,000 telephone calls to Palestinians in Gaza advising them to vacate whatever structure they're in before Israel bombs it. Hamas has been locating its military operations in or near civilian buildings, hoping to protect them from attack. And, Israel, has been gracious enough to give Palestinians, who know that Hamas members operate among them, a chance to get out and save their lives.

The cost to Israel is that it runs missions against targets given advance warning and risks not hitting whatever persons or weapons it intends to destroy.

Israel also has been dropping leaflets over Gaza telling people stay away from Hamas members and facilities.

What other nation in the world would make such an effort to protect civilian populations? None. What international media outlet would bother to report this extremeand unprecedented act of goodwill? Again, probably none.

Bulldozer Terrorist Attack Was Preventable

In an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post, Yaakov Katz writes that today's attack by a Arab resident of Jerusalem driving a bulldozer would have been "difficult to foil." Israel's Chief of Police, David Cohen, said "There's no way to control a single person if he wants to commit terrorism."

However, according to earlier reports, the terrorist -- Husam Taysir Dwayat, a 30-year-old father of two from Sur Bahir in southeast Jerusalem -- was carrying an Israeli identity card and had a criminal record due to previous criminal activities, mainly drug felonies, as well as furniture theft. Had Dwayat not been issued an Israeli residency document in the first place or had his documents been revoked upon conviction of a crime, or in this case several, he would not have been legally employable in Jerusalem and would have been unlikely to have had access to the bulldozer used in the attack.

If Arabs fortunate enough to hold Israeli residency permits commit crimes or other violations, then those permits should be suspended or revoked, because they have proven themselves to be security risks. If Israel does not now conduct a thorough background check on Arabs applying for or holding residence permits, it should start to do so immediately. Having a criminal record like today's terrorist did ought to be immediate grounds for disqualification for such permits and the employment privileges inside Israel that accompany them.

Soldiers Who Wash Floors in War

Contrary to the images the international media would like us to see -- of IDF soldiers allegedly shooting recklessly at Palestinians and detaining others, seemingly without cause, for hours at border crossings, IDF soldiers who fought in Lebanon last summer, after Hizballah kidnapped two soldiers in a cross-border raid and launched rockets into Israel, displayed quite a different image.

According to an article in the Jerusalem Post Metro magazine on Friday, July 20, 2007 (not yet posted online), IDF soldiers who'd been holed up in a deserted house in a deserted South Lebanon village "saw plain-clothed Hizballah operatives moving back in.... The soldiers nevertheless cleaned the house before evaculating. 'We even washed the floors.'"

"But these soldiers did something more," the Post continued. "Something unlikely for soldiers in battlezones around the world. They left letters for the Lebanese owners. 'We apologized in English and Arabic for taking over their home and offered to replace anything missing. We also expressed that we would one day like to meet in peace."

All the peace conferences and signed agreements in the world will not compensate for the fact that only when the Arabs -- Palestinian Arabs included -- demonstrate this kind of sincere sympathy and respect towards Israelis will there be any chance for lasting peace.