Dear Palestinian Authority: I don't think "negotiate" means what you think it means, Part II

In July of 2013, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry achieved what no one thought was possible: In exchange for Israel's promise to release over 100 Palestinian murderers from jail, he persuaded Palestinian Authority President Abbas to resume negotiations with Israel.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israel-to-free-104-palestinian-prisoners/2013/07/28/390ad8d2-f7a3-11e2-a954-358d90d5d72d_story.html

But what did that mean? The Oxford online dictionary defines "negotiate" as "to try to reach an agreement or compromise."  The legal dictionary at the online thefreedictionary.com defines it as a "give-and-take discussion."  USLegal.com defines it as a "communication process between individuals that is intended to reach a compromise."  And what does "compromise" mean?  Fairly basic.  Compromise means "a settlement of differences in which each side makes concessions."   (See, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/negotiate, http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/negotiation,  http://definitions.uslegal.com/n/negotiation/   http://www.thefreedictionary.com/compromise.)

The disagreement over issues between Israel and the PA is clear and well-known.  From the outset, the premise of "negotiations" has been that, in an attempt to reach a compromise, each side will make concessions, that is to say, give up something that it did not want to give up, in order to reach a common end goal: conflict resolution.

But as I've noted previously, throughout this process, Abbas has repeatedly stated that he does not intend to make any concessions.  http://mirasmicrophone.blogspot.com/2013/11/dear-palestinian-authority-i-dont-think.html.  What, then, did he think the point of these negotiations were?

Abbas has now reportedly told Obama that he will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state, that he will never abandon the so-called right of return, and that he will not even commit to ending the conflict.  http://www.timesofisrael.com/tv-report-abbas-said-no-to-obama-on-3-core-peace-issues/, http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4224/abbas-obama-no.  This is not a negotiation, it is merely a staged show.  Abbas should be declared to be in breach of his promise to negotiate, and Israel should keep the final group of murderers where they belong -- in prison.

Obama's Fantastic View of President Abbas

After reading Jeff Goldberg's recent interview with Obama, I can only conclude that Obama is living in a reality of his own construction, one that bears no resemblance to actual events.  http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-02/obama-to-israel-time-is-running-out  Obama states that Abbas is "a partner . . . who is prepared to negotiate seriously."  Yet, Abbas has stated repeatedly that he is "not prepared to give up one once of Palestinian demands."  See, e.g., http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4459571,00.html.  NB, Obama, the very definition of negotiate requires that each side make concessions.  A person who states from the outset that he refuses to make a single concession, is not negotiating in good faith.

Obama also tells Goldberg that he "believe[s] that President Abbas is sincere about his willingness to recognize Israel and its right to exist."  This statement is really quite extraordinary, in light of the fact that Abbas has also stated repeatedly that he will never recognize such a right.  As reported by the Obama PR Team at the New York Times, in December of 2013, Abbas made this statement in a letter to Obama himself.  See http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/world/middleeast/sticking-point-in-peace-talks-recognition-of-a-jewish-state.html.

Most importantly, Obama appears to be willfully ignorant of the events in 2000 at Camp David and in 2008 in Israel, in which, in both cases, Israel attempted to reach peace deals with the Palestinians, but was rebuffed.  He appears ignorant, as well, of the events of 2005, in which Israel attempted to begin a process of unilateral withdrawal, which resulted in the election of Hamas in Gaza and barrages of rockets aimed at civilian residences in Israel.  Had any one of these attempts to grant Palestinians what they claim to want so badly been successful, there would be no settlement construction today.