Recently Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu stated that Israel would accept the idea of an Israel Palestinian peace only after the latter agrees on five conditions which Netanyahu stated. The five conditions are a recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, an agreement from the Palestinians that a peace treaty declares the end of all claims against Israel, no Palestinian refugees are to be allowed to return to Israeli territory, a demilitarized Palestinian state, and an International recognition of the demilitarization.

Beside these conditions, Israeli sources claimed that Netanyahu refused a Palestinian demand to renew the negotiations. Prime Minister Netanyahu stated clearly in the Knesset that the separation wall will never be removed or changed and it will always stay its place. According to him the separation wall prevented Palestinian attacks and assures the security of Israel.

Netanyahu’s conditions represent a new developed season in directing the conflict with the Palestinians. It will be almost impossible to agree on Netanyahu’s conditions since they contradict with the basic demands which the Palestinians consider the heart of the conflict. Not only that it would be hard to agree on them, but also Netanyahu suggests these demands in a time that Israel refuses to make any simple step to improve the peace process. The Israeli government stated clearly that building settlements in East Jerusalem is not illegal or contradicts with any law since East Jerusalem is considered a part of the united Jerusalem which is the capital of Israel.

So what Netanyahu is offering is a chance for the Palestinians to forget about East Jerusalem as a capital, accept the “logic” and agree on the existence of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, completely ignore the right of millions of Palestinian refugees who are living in bad conditions and camps after being kicked of their houses, immediately agree on recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, forgive all the war criminals and agree on ending any claim against them, and establish a state which will be a backyard for Israel that can be entered whenever the latter wants.

Well this sounds like an attractive offer in the eyes of the Israeli leadership and in the future the Palestinians will be blamed for not accepting it exactly as Olmert and Barak blamed Arafat and Abu Mazen for not agreeing on their similar offers which are only different in the way they were said or written.

The question here is about the real outcome which the Palestinians could get through negotiating with such a government that reached the peak of arrogance. Not only the United States of America, but France, Germany, Russia, and many of the countries of the world demanded from Israel to stop its current actions if the latter really wants to reach peace with the Arab world. Prime Minister Netanyahu demands for a full recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, but forgot about the Palestinian demand from Israel to at least admit that it caused the deporting of thousands of Palestinians, the death of their family members, and the life which live in today in camps and with no nationality or any of the human rights which the free world demands for every human.

Netanyahu wants a demilitarized Palestinian state which will simply be an organization responsible of social services with no independence or control of any part of the lands. Settlements are to be kept in the West Bank and are to be expanded in East Jerusalem while the Palestinians will have to be satisfied with the cities which they live in currently.

Netanyahu demands for a Palestinian agreement on ending any claim against Israel once a Peace treaty which would be made by Israel alone is agreed. All the crimes are to be forgotten and all the criminals are to be forgiven while the Palestinian political prisoners are to be kept in prison. I wonder whether Israel agreed or even will agree on forgiving anyone who made a crime against one of its citizens or any Jew whether it was in the past or could happen in the future.

This offer would convince the Palestinians that it would be better to shut down any peace negotiations and prefer to live under occupation since the goal of this suggested plan is not to reach an agreement agreed on by both the Palestinians and the Israelis but seems like an agreement made by Israel and only for the interest of it.

The only good point in Netanyahu’s policy is that he is being honest about the Israeli intentions and interests. In this way, the world and the international community can see clearly who is to be blamed if once again violence takes the lead in the region.
Negotiations are supposed to be made in order to bring both sides of the conflict into the middle and try to satisfy the demands of both of them. The Israeli Palestinian negotiations is a choice which Israel asked for only to use as another strategy in directing the conflict and pressuring the Palestinians to forget about what they consider reasonable.

Prime Minister Netanyahu understands that no peace can be achieved with such conditions so the real reason behind his offer could be either pressuring the Palestinians before Israel becomes under pressure from the United States and the International community. This could result in costing him less if he would be obliged to compromise. The other reason could be simply putting conditions that would never be agreed on and by doing this he will spend his four years in command without making any agreement that would make him compromise anything.

This Israeli plan is not as safe as it looks since the situation in the Palestinian side and the Arab world is not stable. However, many Israeli leaders are famous for taking risks in launching war rather than taking risks for the sake of peace.

Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad

A Palestinian-Arab living in East Jerusalem, Ziad graduated from College Des Freres in Jerusalem in 2003. Ziad finished his major in International Relations and English Literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ziad is a former President of the Watan student movement at the university. He is interested in Middle Eastern political issues and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Founder of the Middle East Post and MEL (Middle East Future Leadership Network), he represents Palestinian youth at several international conferences.

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