Peace

The so called experts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict see the potential obstacles to peace in Netanyahu's unwillingness to compromise, Hamas absence from the talks and Abbas' weakness. Of the three Hamas' absence is a major problem. Netanyau is a mystery but he present a binary problem: either he believes in the Israel's willingness to go back to 67 border with minimal corrections or he does not. The problem with Abbas is more complex. The Palestinians still hold on to their original maximal demand: 67 border, refugees back to Israel proper and all of Jerusalem. That does not represent a compromise and will not be the basis for peace. Neither Abbas nor Arafat before him did agree to the best they can get from Israel in 2000 with Barak and in 2006 with Olmert. It is difficult to see them change now.

There is another player who is against peace - the Europeans. Antisemitism did not die with Hitler. In order to survive it evolved. The process happens with racism in the US. Civilized society in the US rejects off hand direct hate for African American. Yet, racism still persists in white flight, lower budgets for non-white schools, hiring, etc. The Europeans transformed plain antisemitism into hate for Israel. Same did the supposedly left wing Americans (they are left to the same degree that the moon is made of cheese). As a Swede working for Amnesty International said a couple of weeks ago: "Israel is a scum state." That is only a slight change from Jewish pigs used by the Nazis.

With peace, those professional haters will be orphaned, lonely and in desperate need for a new target. The US, a comfortable target in the past, is now down and embroiled in wars; the US is a not a good target anymore. The better solution is to encourage Abbas not to budge and blame Israel. That PR has being perpetrated for almost 60 years (way before the 67 war); the haters are good at that. Just compare it the obstructionist Republicans who try to destroy as much as they can and then blame the Democrats; they are immensely successful.