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Photo: Moshe Milner, GPO
Abbas will not attend a meeting with Netanyahu in order to return empty-handed
Photo: Moshe Milner, GPO
Smadar Perry

Who will pick up the phone, Bibi or Abbas?

Op-ed: Both the Israeli and Palestinians leaders have a lot to lose if they don't bring about a calm. No matter what they know or think about each other, they must meet face to face, without mediators.

A video showing a young Jewish Israeli woman, with a white headdress, walking in the alleys of Jerusalem's Old City and cursing, "Muhammad is a pig," has been circulating on social media for five days now. IDF soldiers are seen removing her, while an elderly Palestinian woman chases her screaming, demanding that she be punished.

 

 

This video, which aims to justify the murder of the Henkin couple, was forwarded to me by someone from Saudi Arabia. According to the captions, it was a planned revenge and the murderers "felt sorry" for the four children in the car - "proof" of the Palestinians' level of humanity.

 

Horrible videos are circulating here too. One can argue whether or not a third intifada has erupted, but it's clear that we have sunk deep into a circle of hatred-violence-revenge.

 

Let’s not forget that three weeks ago, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon revealed that Israel knows who torched the Dawabsheh family's home in the village of Duma. The father, the mother and the baby died in agony, and little orphan Ahmad is hospitalized at the Sheba Medical Center. Have there been any arrests? One of the family members who witnessed the dreadful incident provided a detailed description of two young men who threw the Molotov cocktails and tried to chase him. The Israeli side is insisting that the evidence, even if many more details than the ones disclosed to the media are known, will not be admissible in court.

 

In order to lower the flames, Netanyahu must swallow his pride, pick up the phone and produce a meeting with Abbas. (Archive photo: AFP)
In order to lower the flames, Netanyahu must swallow his pride, pick up the phone and produce a meeting with Abbas. (Archive photo: AFP)

 

No matter what they know or think about each other, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas must meet face to face, without mediators. It would be best to keep Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (who is postponing the arrival of the new Egyptian ambassador in Tel Aviv), Jordan's King Abdullah (who is not answering Netanyahu's phone calls) and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon out of the picture.

 

Who will pick up the phone first? Netanyahu is stronger, and he is the one who called on Abbas to meet him "without preconditions." He also made a comment about being willing to eat falafel in Ramallah.

 

Forget about Ramallah. The Shin Bet won't give Netanyahu Palestinian falafel. The 20-minute drive from the bureau to the Muqataa compound is an operational nightmare. With the current level of trust between the two sides, no one can guarantee a secret meeting.

 

Here's the complexity: Both sides have a lot to lose if they don't bring about calm, and Abbas will not attend the meeting in order to return empty-handed. He can already recite Netanyahu's promises while in deep sleep. The results of a public meeting must be prepared in advance. Abbas cannot afford to return without a "package."

 

According to an expert's testimony, Netanyahu is acting like a person who is afraid to get a bullet in his head, like slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, if he makes a brave diplomatic move and returns to his commitment to two states for two people.

 

Abbas, just like Netanyahu, has no successor and no replacement. They are playing with open cards. At the end of the day, both of them are interested in maintaining the status quo, strengthening the economy and surviving in power. There are no dark secrets in this story. They both know that with all the patents their advisors will come up with for them, there will be no real and full solution that will last in the territories without marking borders at the settlements' expense and without an in-depth treatment of Jerusalem's status. Abbas wants to divide Jerusalem; Netanyahu doesn’t want to and can’t. Nonetheless, they must both beware a situation in which radicals on the Temple Mount lead the region to a horrible religious war.

 

In any event, at the moment we must stop the evolving chain of terror and lower the flames. This is not the time to calculate who is right, who is inciting and who is telling the truth. Abbas won't allow himself to cancel the Oslo Agreements, which keep his chair warm, so that Israel will continue to curb the flow towards Hamas in the territories. On the other hand, he is definitely striving to create an unrest. We have not heard any condemnations from him, and no calming messages have come out of the Muqataa. That's exactly why Netanyahu must swallow his pride, pick up the phone and produce the meeting.

 


פרסום ראשון: 10.06.15, 18:48
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