July 16, 2012
Maybe the people who write editorials at the New York Times don’t follow the news.
That’s the only way to explain how, just one day after Mahmoud Abbas rejected Israel’s offer to release 125 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for nothing more than a new round of peace talks, the Times is back to blaming Israel for the current impasse.
In an editorial about the Levy Report, no mention is made about Abbas refusing offers for talks. What we get instead is a litany of accusations against Israel:
Palestinian hopes for an independent state are growing dimmer all the time. Israel is pushing ahead with new settlements in the West Bank and asserting control over new sections of East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as their capital. Meanwhile, peace talks — the best guarantee of a durable solution — are going nowhere.
It’s not just the Palestinians who are losing hope. Israelis seeking for a peaceful solution to the conflict have little to celebrate as well. And why is that? Why are peace talks – the great “guarantee of a durable solution” – going nowhere? It is because the Palestinians simply refuse to hold talks.
And it gets worse. Later in the same editorial, the Times notes:
Now that Mr. Netanyahu has expanded his ruling coalition, his excuse is gone for not ending his counterproductive settlement policy and using his new political clout to advance a peace agreement with the Palestinians.
When will the New York Times hold Abbas and the Palestinian leadership to the same standards to which it holds Netanyahu? When will we see New York Times editorials telling the Palestinians that their excuse for rejecting offer after offer to negotiate will no longer be accepted?
Well, that’s not happening today and it’s hard to see it happening tomorrow. Right now, for the New York Times editorial team, Israel can do no right and the Palestinians can do no wrong.
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