“Hundreds of thousands have been slaughtered in Syria, look at Yemen, at Libya, at Iraq.” Those examples have nothing to do with Israel or the Palestinian Arabs.
“In addition, how can the West think that Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) is our peace partner? He has no legitimacy even within the Palestinian Authority strongholds. If an election were held now, he would lose in Ramallah and elsewhere.” Not to mention he’s been in office for far more time as an unelected leader than the duration of his elected term.
And if that isn’t enough, Liberman adds one more nail to a coffin which, by all legitimate measures, resembles swiss cheese much more than a closed box: “it is crazy that Israel is not reminding everyone, every day, that at Annapolis, [then-Prime Minister] Ehud Olmert’s offer to abu Mazen was more than any Israel leader could ever give, and abu Mazen still said no. The same was true for Barak’s offer to Arafat at Camp David, but Arafat walked away.” At every one of the peace negotiations in which Israel offered sometimes even beyond what it could afford it terms of security, but the Palestinian Arab leadership said no.
For this party leader, the best that can be done as far as relations between Israel and the PA is managing the situation while working with and helping to promote reasonable Arab leaders. And then he focuses his lens on a wider stage, cultivating better relations with other Arab states in the region.
“But,” Liberman sadly states, “we have no one really leading the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is a missed opportunity.”
