Nine years ago, on October 13, 1998, then-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu revealed his position on negotiating with the Palestinian Authority, then led by Yasser Arafat. On Netanyahu accepts, in principle, the establishment of a Palestinian state. that day, he presented a list of Israeli demands to his Cabinet. They include the following (with my comments in brackets): (1) Any agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA) should encompass all subjects up for negotiation and not just a partial Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. Any redeployment should be in stages so that Israel can verify at each stage that the Palestinian side is fulfilling its commitments. [This suggests that Netanyahu accepts, in principle, the establishment of a Palestinian state.] (2) The PA must act "systematically and concretely against terrorism" by arresting suspects and detaining them in prison. [This is equivalent to demanding Arab thugs to cease behaving like thugs.] (3) The PA must "unconditionally" co-operate with Israel on security issues. [Ever since he was elected prime minister in May 1996, Netanyahu's own office had issued daily reports of terrorist attacks perpetrated by the PA in blatant violation of the Israel-PLO Agreement. Yet, Netanyahu lacked the wherewithal to call for the abrogation of that agreement.] (4) A joint Israeli-Palestinian committee, including US officials, should be formed to supervise the campaign against "incitement to violence." [This reliance on the United States reveals Netanyahu's inability to pursue a Jewish national strategy.] (5) The number of Palestinian police must be reduced from a total, according to Israel, of 36,000 armed men - 12,000 more than allowed under the autonomy agreements. ["Autonomy"? Was Netanyahu unaware that the Israel-PLO Agreement, as perceived by Shimon Peres, envisioned the establishment of a Palestinian state? Alternatively, was he deaf to the unceasing jihadist pronouncements of Yasser Arafat? See item (10) below.] (6) The PA must confiscate weapons held illegally by militants in the areas which it controls. [Aside from the fact that Netanyahu himself approved the transfer of sophisticated submachine guns to the PA, what are those "militants" if not instruments of the PA?] (7) The PA must hand over Palestinians suspected of attacks on Israelis when it receives an extradition request from an Israeli judge. [Yes, the PA, a consortium of Arab terrorist organizations, must abide by the rule of law.] (8) The Palestine National Council, the supreme legislative body of the PLO, must meet to cancel the articles in its charter which still call for the destruction of the Jewish state. [That was calling on Arafat to commit suicide.] (9) A body must be set up to monitor how far the Palestinians are fulfilling their commitments on security. [Netanyahu would obviously want US officials to be included is such a body, since this intrepid prime minister could not ensure the PA's compliance with any agreement. And would the United States?] (10) Netanyahu stressed to the Cabinet his firm opposition to the announcement of a Palestinian state next May [2003] when the five years of the interim accords foreseen by the Oslo agreements are to end. [Emphasis on this point to indicate Netanyahu's rhetoric on this issue.] Okay, but that was nine years ago. Perhaps Netanyahu has changed his mind about a Palestinian state. If so, then what has happened to change his mind? In 2004, serving as Finance Minister in the Sharon government, Netanyahu voted for "unilateral disengagement" from Gaza, and abstained when the issue was presented to Netanyahu voted for "unilateral disengagement" from Gaza. the Knesset as the Evacuation Law. In both cases, he betrayed those who voted Likud in the 2003 Knesset elections. This betrayal of (original) Likud principles (to say nothing of Jewish principles) is implicit in his insistence on "reciprocity" between Israel and her Arab "negotiating partners." Apart from the fact that the idea of "reciprocity" is foreign to Arab mentality, what would reciprocity consist of? Clearly, it would involve Israel's staged withdrawal from Judea and Samaria (and Gaza), on the one hand, for a cessation of Arab terrorism on the other. And then what? With the Israel Defense Forces no longer in Judea and Samaria, what would prevent the Arabs from reverting to type? The answer - supplied by 1,400 years of Arab-Islamic history - applies to any Israel-Palestinian accord that may issue from the forthcoming Annapolis Summit. (Middle East expert Daniel Pipes candidly admitted that it would take decades to overcome the hatred of Jews and Israel instilled in Arab children who, to this day, exalt suicide bombers.) Surely, all this is known to Mr. Netanyahu. Yet, has anyone heard him declare he is unalterably opposed, in principle, to a Palestinian state? So what's his rhetoric all about? Can it be that it's about Binyamin Netanyahu?
