Tail wags dog. When will we learn?
There just is never an end to the ‘needs’ of Israel, and their relentless quest for more control.
Washington’s Middle East envoy faced a new obstacle Thursday as he launched his latest attempt to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks: Israel wants to keep troops on the West Bank’s border with Jordan even if a deal is reached.
Palestinians rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand, made just before U.S. envoy George Mitchell arrived in Israel on Wednesday.
Mr. Mitchell has been laboring without success for a year to get both sides back to the negotiating table, and Mr. Netanyahu’s new demand made his mission even more formidable. (Is anyone shocked that Israel would try to undermine any chance of real talks from taking place?)
Mr. Netanyahu said Israel must maintain a presence “on the eastern side of a prospective Palestinian state” to keep militants from using the territory to launch rockets at Israel’s heartland. The eastern side of such a state would be the part of the Jordan Valley that lies in the West Bank.
Saeb Erekat, a confidant of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called the demand “absolutely unacceptable.” (As it should be.)
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