HOW STUPID DO THE ARABS BELIEVE THE ISRAELIS REALLY ARE?

BY SIG DEMLING

You have to wonder precisely what dream world Mahmoud Abbas and his cohorts live in when it comes to negotiations.

According to the Abbas logic, if America's John Kerry insists that Israeli-Arab talks be launched with no pre-conditions, the Secretary of States means that only Benjamin Netanyahu should have no pre-conditions. The way Palestinians see it, they have unlimited pre-conditions whether any one else likes it or not.

That explains why Abbas continuously demands -- before any talks are held -- that Israel do such un-thinkable things as revert to the indefensible pre-1967 lines. 

But that's only half of the Abbas' absurdity when it comes to his other pre-conditions.

Another constant Arab demand would have Israel release innumerable Palestinians prisoners before any peace negotiations begin. 

The only reason for Bibi to accede to such unrealistic urging would be if Prime Minister suddenly has gone nuts.

What Israel's leader must know by now is that opening prison gates to release convicted Arab murderers is the surest way to get more Israelis killed. 

These Palestinians are in jail for a reason; their idea of a good time is killing Jews and more Jews. That was, is and always will be their modus operandi. 

Allow me to give you an example:

In order for Israel to gain release of the kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, Israel delivered a legion of murderers back to the Arabs. The mass release was based on a simple premise; goodwill should produce goodwill in return.

No matter that the disproportionate equation  -- one Jew for 1,027 Arabs  -- strained credulity. Bibi wanted to end the torturous Shalit chapter in the country's history. It was a gamble to be sure but there was a very faint hope that for once some goodwill would prevail in the Arab mind.

Nice try Bibi. And another lesson in Arab duplicity learned.

What has transpired is precisely what you'd expect when dealing with Hamas terrorists -- or is that redundant? In this case the plotter was Hesham Ibrahim Hijaz while his accomplice in this example of 

double-dealing was a chap named Bakr Sa'ad, a 26-year-old resident of a village near Ramallah, home of Abbas.

Bakr Sa'ad plotted with a Hamas terrorist Hijaz  who had been granted freedom as part of the Shalit deal. 

Now you would think that in a world of goodwill Hijaz would have used his release to pursue a clean life. Then again -- employing Arab thinking -- he did. Along with Sa'ad, Hijaz planned kidnapping and shooting attacks against Israelis. That's the Hamas version of goodwill.

Should we be surprised?

Hardly. The released prisoner had been serving no less than ten life sentences for being part of a terrorist cell that carried out attacks between 2001 and 2003 in which ten Israelis were killed. Hijaz merely wanted to turn his freedom into more dead Jews by employing Sa'ad. 

The idea was for accomplice Sa'ad to shoot and kidnap Israelis in Judea and Samaria. And in his spare time Sa'ad would recruit other Arab assassins. Hijaz would implement the deal by delivering four weapons to Sa'ad. 

Mind you, this was far from an isolated case. There are endless examples of Hamas terrorists released in the Shalit deal who have returned to murderous activities with only one target in mind, Israeli Jews. 

Therefore when dreamer Abbas proposes that Netanyahu release scores of Arab prisoners before negotiating, Bibi first should refer his Arab opposite to the example set by Hesham Ibrahim Hijaz and then multiply it by about 1,000.

Then, he should direct the PA boss to the door and make this simple but necessary assertion:

"That stupid I am not!"