Just another ploy

Israel has dampened down any hope that the French initiative of convening a meeting in Paris on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be in any way successful, even before the meeting started.

Dore Gold, the head of Israel’s foreign ministry, went as far as to compare the Paris effort to the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement, which divided the Middle East to serve the colonial ambitions of France and England at the time.

“This effort utterly failed then and will completely fail today,” he said.

Playing the victim of some Western designs is one way of keeping Israel away from the negotiation table. 

All along, Israel has refused to talk peace, directly or indirectly with the Palestinians, and trying to make the world believe that France or anybody else involved in “a process that somebody is trying to create in Paris” is a colonial attempt at redrawing borders is just another ploy to avoid talking peace.

Claiming to want to negotiate directly with the Palestinians is another manoeuvre that enables Israel to procrastinate, giving its right-wing government ample time to carry out its designs on land stolen from the Palestinians.

Israel could always come up with one demand or another, one precondition or another to ensure that the Palestinians reject negotiations and get squarely blamed for “refusing” to talk peace.

If it had been truly interested in peace, it would have grabbed any opportunity — and they were many, as the US secretary of state could easily attest — to discuss with the Palestinians.

It would not have even had to wait for “foreign intervention”, but it would have initiated talks and reached a solution, based on international legitimacy.

But peace was never farthest from the Israeli government’s mind, and now to liken the well-intentioned French initiative to some colonial designs is disingenuous, to say the least.

Israel simply does not want a peaceful resolution of its conflict with the Palestinians and will do everything in its powers to sabotage any international efforts to have it settled once and for all.

It will not rest until it gobbles up all the Palestinian land, all the while portraying itself as a victim.

The French initiative is a sincere and well-appreciated effort, and should be promoted and supported to make it a success, Israel’s hurdles notwithstanding.