The snippet below was written by Khaled Abu Toameh and Herb Keinon and published in the Jerusalem Post:
Palestinian Authority officials said Wednesday that US Secretary of State John Kerry has made significant progress in his efforts to revive the peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel.Am I the only one that finds this rather disconcerting?
The officials predicted that the peace talks would be resumed most likely after the fasting month of Ramadan, which ends in early August.
The officials refused to say why they were now less pessimistic than before.
However, one PA official said that, "For the first time, President Mahmoud Abbas heard some encouraging and positive things from Mr. Kerry."
Another official in Ramallah claimed that Israel has agreed to release a significant number of Palestinian prisoners as requested by the PA leadership.The PA had demanded the release of some 100 inmates who were imprisoned before the signing of the Oslo Accords about two decades ago.
The official also claimed that the Israeli government has agreed to a "partial and undeclared" freeze of settlement construction in both the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Israeli officials had no comment on the matter.
When American Secretaries of State start spending a little too much time in Jerusalem and Ramallah you just know the blood is going to soon start spilling.
As far as I am concerned the time for negotiations is over.
The Arabs of Judea and Samaria have no legitimate claims on the region and Israel should impose its own solution without any regard for the wishes of Fatah or the PLO or Hamas.
The great Arab majority in the Middle East have been entirely hostile to the conquered Jewish minority since the 7th century. We do not owe them anything. The opposite is true. Just why it is that the Jews of the Middle East must make concessions to the progeny of their former masters is beyond me.
