There you have it, Israel is finally being blamed directly for acts of God.
Back during the first and second Intifadas, Israelis used to joke that the Arab territories were a modern-day Shangri La, since not a single Palestinian seemed to die from natural causes – according to the Palestinian media, every last one of them died at the hands of the IDF. Now they blame even the natural causes on the Jews.
Will Bibi play into the hands of the unholy trinity of Obama-Kerry-Abbas? Will he blink first, give in to pressure and produce a map? Mind you, it makes no difference what he puts in that map, even if he is most generous with the settler community and gives them the entire 7 percent of Judea and Samaria where they’re currently living – in the end it would only be a basis for negotiations.
Because the Abu Mazen map demands 100 percent of the territories, all of it, with 100 percent of the Jews removed.
Thank God, former Defense Minister Ehud Barak is no longer on hand to carry out the State Department’s policies at the Israeli government table. The new minister, Moshe Yaalon, is made of less narcissistic stock. And Naftali Bennett is also part of Netanyahu’s security cabinet, giving the settlers a presence in decision making they haven’t had for a decade.
If Netanyahu wants my advise (he rarely calls any more), he should present a map, with the entire land of Israel, from the Jordan to the Rafah crossing included in Israel’s possession. We can start from there, and negotiate.