'Netanyahu speech - like Likud pep rally'
(Video) New York Times commentator Thomas Friedman criticizes Israeli PM, US president and Palestinian leader's UN addresses, says 'New Middle East' not heading in right direction
Friedman wasn't complementary towards Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' speech either, saying it "read like an address to an Arab League meeting". US president Barack Obama was also criticized for his speech with Friedman claiming it "read like an appeal to Jewish voters in Florida".
Related stories:
Friedman defined the threesome's speeches as "a soap opera" adding that it is indeed a "New Middle East" just not in the way he hoped.
Friedman added that "if clashes erupt between Israelis and Palestinians today, there is no President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt to absorb the flames. Now there is a Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, ready to fan them — toward Israel."
What is six months?
Friedman also claimed that "it is not an exaggeration to say that if serious clashes erupted between Israelis and Palestinians, both the peace treaties between Egypt and Israel and Egypt and Jordan could be undermined. And if Palestinian violence spreads in the West Bank, Abbas may just tell the Israelis that he is shutting down the Palestinian Authority and will no longer serve as Israel’s policeman on the West Bank.
"That would be the last nail in the coffin of the Oslo accords. So all three pillars of peace — imperfect as they may have been, but so vital to Israel’s security since the 1970s — are in danger," Friedman wrote in his column.
And what does Friedman offer up as a solution? He suggests that the Israeli government freeze settlement construction for six months, "What is six months in the history of 5,000-year-old people?
"And when this Israeli government won’t do that, it fans the Palestinian fears that Israel really wants two states — both for itself."
Friedman noted that the Palestinians also haven't done enough to end the conflict: "The Palestinian leadership, though, could do much more to encourage such an overture because the only thing that can force Netanyahu to move is the Israeli center. It has done so before.
"When the Israeli silent majority… hears that Palestinians insist on the 'right of return' for some of their people — not only to the West Bank, but to Israel proper — it raises Israeli fears that the Palestinians still dream of having two states, both for themselves: the West Bank and pre-1967 Israel.
"If Abbas spoke more directly to those fears, Netanyahu would be under much more domestic pressure to move," Friedman stated.
- Follow Ynetnews on Facebook
- Receive Ynetnews updates
directly to your desktop
