By Schmoel Yitzhak
Give them points for trying.
That's all I can say for the European Union and its latest attempt to jump something that simply won't leap forward; and that happens to be the forever-stalled peace talks.
According to the latest rather believable scuttlebutt, the EU's latest attempt never got out of the batter's box because it struck out on three straight pitches.
Actually, maybe just one!
And that would be the failure to agree on one cardinal point; Arab recognition of Israel as a democratic, JEWISH state.
Although that -- Israel as the Jewish state -- ,precisely is the case, and long ago was so recognized by the United Nations, the mere idea of the Israel-Jewish state equation sticks and slices in Mahmoud Abbas' craw like an icepick which never in a million years can be swallowed.
That being the case, Europe's Quartet sang the blues and ended their latest stalemated meeting in Washington with what amounted to a hopeless "We're outta here!"
In a reprise of Cold War days, Russia sided with the Thumbs-Down Arabs when the Israel=Jewish State equation was inserted in what would have been a joint progress statement. Others in the group supported the Israel-Jewish state link but, in the end, the Muscovites torpedoed the talks., refusing to go along with the obvious.
When you think about it -- even theoretically -- such peacemaking extravaganzas as the most recent EU conference in Washington are a waste of time, and here's why:
Since Russia represents the Arabs (now known as Palestinians), the Kremlin is speaking on behalf of Abbas and his Palestinian Authority buddies. But the Palestinians are trying to unite Hamas with the PA. Since Hamas is pathologically opposed to Israel in any way, shape or form -- let alone as a Jewish state -- there's no sense in even talking about the talks.
And even if the Hamas-PA reconciliation never takes place, no rational mediation can take place unless Gaza (Hamas) is involved as well. Thus, no matter how the EU attacks the road-blockers (i.e. Arabs), it hits a dead-end.
What's so stunning about the EU's fascination-focus on Israel and the Arabs is that it continues unabated as if some solution is just around the calendar; which we know is not the case.
This is all the more arresting when one considers that REAL issues such as mass murders in Syria take place every single day and yet Uncle Sam and his buddies across the Atlantic treat the dictator Assad as if his name is Mister Impunity. Only lately is there talk of moving against the Syrian leader.
Even more ludicrous is the latest bulletin that the ubiquitous -- Quixotic would be more like it -- Tony Blair will be the next peacemaker to visit the Middle East in an attempt to turn the Quartet's latest pessimistic results into some form of Pollyanna optimism.
Precisely what Blair hopes to accomplish in view of the EU's failure only he seems to know and all we do know is that Tony will arrive armed with good intentions and nothing more.
If I had the opportunity to greet the former British Prime Minister on his arrival, the first thing I'd do is hand him a brochure I received at the recent Israel Day Parade in Manhattan. It was distributed by Bnai Elim, a Brooklyn group with the venerable slogan, "Never Again."
Bnai Elim has what it claims to the "A Different Solution to the Arab/Israeli Conflict."
I won't go into all the details but the root of Bnai Elim's argument is that the Land of Israel has been home to Jews for 3,500 years and that Jews have every right to live peacefully in their homeland.
"The Arab 'Palestinians' have no rights to Israel," Bnai Elim insists. "Arab 'Palestine' is a fiction; a historical distortion; part of a plan to destroy Israel.
"Having failed to destroy Israel by war, the Arab League initiated a different tactic by inventing a fictional people, known as 'Palestinians,' formerly and more accurately known as Arabs living in Israel. Historically, the term 'Palestinian' actually referred to Jews."
These points -- among many others -- underline the EU's futility in hammering out a peace pact.
In each case, the bottom line is unassailable: THE ARABS DO NOT WANT A REASONABLE PEACE WITH ISRAEL.
Were the opposite the case, the original United Nations partition plan -- accepted by Israel -- would not have been rejected by the Arabs. Now consider all the other "peace deals" scuttled by Yassir Arafat and his confederates:
1. The Oslo Accords (1993); 2. The Wye River Memorandum (1998); 3. Camp David (2000); 4. Taba Summit (2001); 5. Arab Peace Initiative (2002); 6. Road Map for Peace (2003); 7. Sharm el-Sheikh Summit (2005); 8 Annapolis Conference (2007).
In each case, Israel made drastic -- almost absurd -- concessions to inspire peaceful co-existence and was slapped down every time.
Bnai Elim's points are irrefutable and must be studied by all fair-minded EU members as well as the well-meaning Blair.
"The conflict is NOT over the territories of 1967," the Bnai Elim premise points out, "and it's not because Israel owns that land. The Arabs are unwilling to accept a Jewish state of any kind. Land for peace will never work.
"Before Israel was born Arabs were perpetrating pogroms against Jews; pogroms in the 1920s and 1930s when there were no so-called 'occupied territories. During the 1940s and 1950s Jews were unilaterally and harshly expelled from the Arab countries."
There are twenty-two Arab states totalling 650 times the size of Israel.
Never mind even discussion of the Abbas' "right of return" homily. In 1948 Israel absorbed more than 750,000 Jews from Arab countries. It's about time the twenty-two Arab States absorbed those Arabs who claim to be "Palestinians."
Whether you agree with Bnai Elim or not -- or me for that matter -- you must know that neither the EU nor Tony Blair will get anywhere as long as the Arabs refuse to acknowledge Israel as the Jewish State.
Sir Walter Scott once wrote words that remain prophetic today when analyzing the endless, failed peace processes, "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive."
Deception has been the woof and warp of Arab strategy against Jews since Israel was born.
When all is said and done, that' what the EU and Blair are up against when dealing with Jew-haters, despite their most noble intentions.
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