No, President Trump, the security and future of the State of Israel cannot fit as an addendum to any “art of the deal.”
As encouraged as we were by the president’s campaign promise fulfillment to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, we were concerned when the president said Tuesday night that as a result of that action, Israel would now have to pay a “higher price” at the peace table “because they won a very big thing, but I took it off the table.”
The president, speaking to supporters at a West Virginia rally, then took his speech to another level of concern when he said that the Palestinians “will get something very good, because it’s their turn next.”
Since when is this about who gets a turn? The U.S. and Israel have invested billions of dollars in the so-called Palestinian economy and infrastructure over the years. The Palestinians’ “turn” in those cases was to take much of that money and build an infrastructure of terrorism. Israel sends the Palestinians concrete to build sidewalks and buildings, and the concrete is turned into terror tunnels. Israel sends in petrol for trucking and automotive reasons, and the chemicals are then returned to Israel as incendiary devices. The U.S. sends in billions of dollars, and the Palestinians use significant parts of these funds to compensate the families of terrorists who have killed Israelis and Americans.
Mr. President, if the Palestinians had taken the past aid allocations and constructed first-class libraries, universities, hospitals and centers of technology for their people, then maybe we could talk about “turns.”
And Mr. President, you know full well that if we’re using the language of business or gamesmanship, then the track record of the Palestinians would strongly suggest that the PA and Hamas have run out of “turns.”
Because the bottom line here is that the Palestinians haven’t shown an interest in any turn, except those turns that would be to the disadvantage of Israel.
Twice in recent history Israel has offered well over 90 percent of the occupied territories back to the Palestinians. Twice these offers were rejected.
And you know why, Mr. President? It has nothing to do with Israel claiming Jerusalem as its legitimate capital. Jerusalem is undisputedly Jewish and Israel.
The only “turn” the Palestinians will accept is what they see as their right of “re-turn.”
“From the river to the sea…”
Mr. President, this is the “turn” the Palestinians seek. It’s not up to Israel to return any of its land, and it’s certainly not up to the United States to turn Greater Israel into a bargaining chip.
Israelis want peace.
The Palestinians want Israelis out.
That’s the situation, Mr. President.
Now deal with it.
