September 12, 2010 Pressures on the Settlement Freeze- Hamas Will Do Whatever It Can to Stop Peace Talks

Pressure is building on Prime Minister Netnayahu to find a solution to the issue of the settlement freeze. President Obama surprisingly made a direct appeal in his press conference to Netanyahu to continue the freeze, thus complicating the task of reaching a compromise. Netanyahu hasalready indicated the direction in which Israel is heading, and that is an "unofficial freeze", something the settlers have promised to fight. However, Obama’s statement is going to make that more difficult for the Palestinians to accept, after all they can not be seen as making more concessions than Obama.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu has increased his rhetoric, stating inn Hebrew that the Palestinians have been unwilling to publicly proclaim two states for two nations, (which has been translated by the English media as calling for clear Palestinian acceptance of a Jewish state). I suggest that Netanyahu just use other language. He should demand that the Palestinians accept the 1947 partition plan; that called for the establishment of a Jewish state and an Arab state in Palestine and the failure of the Arabs to accept the plan is the cause of most of today's problems.

Also now, the border with Gaza is heating up. This goes hand-in- hand with the warning of the Shin Bet that the Hamas will do everything they can to stop any political agreement between the Paeletinian Authority and Israel. The Shin Bet has warned of the probability of renewed suicide bombings. Even easier to achieve is renewed missile attacks from Gaza by the Hamas. According to the Shin Bet, the Palestinian Authority is doing all it can to fight the Hamas in the West Bank, obviously it cannot do anything in Gaza. Today Israel mourned the passing of one of the last heroes of the founding generation, General Yisrael Tal, who was a part of the IDF from 1948 until his retirement in 2000 (serving on the General Staff from 1964, when he became the commander of the land forces.) General Tal is best known as the developer of the Merchava tank and for being the one most responsible for Israel’s armoured doctrine. He was one of Israel’s was most universally respected military leaders.