can we get a screen shot for those with filters?
It's a bit long for a screenshot. Here's the text:
dan linnaeus
@DanLinnaeus
Dr. Einat Wilf: "Our country is being torn apart by a terrible struggle over something that doesn't really exist.
A few months ago, one of the senior American negotiators in the peace process said in a closed meeting that "after thirty years, he had to admit that there was never really a negotiation." According to him, "Israel offered, and Arafat said no. Israel offered more, and Arafat said no. Israel offered more, and Abu Mazen said no." He further added, "there was never a moment when there were real negotiations in the sense that the Palestinians tried to reach an agreed and acceptable outcome."
I add that to the extent there were negotiations during the years of the 'peace process,' they were conducted between the U.S. and Israel. The U.S. pressured Israel, and Israel offered more. The U.S. pressured again, and Israel offered more. But throughout those years of what was called the 'peace process,' we never truly bothered to check whether the Palestinians even accepted the most basic condition for any peace solution based on two states, which is that one of the two states is the nation-state of the Jewish people. We assumed that this was the intention behind the expression 'two states,' but that was only an assumption from our side. As far as Palestinian internalization that they are not refugees and that there is no such thing as a 'right of return' to Israel, there was never a moment when they were truly ready to accept a two-state solution where one of those states is the Jewish state.
This dynamic is repeating itself now. Ostensibly, there are negotiations about a deal to release the hostages, there are frameworks and stages, and the Americans are constantly pressuring the Israelis to agree to more, and Israel generally agrees, but there is no real deal from the Palestinian side. To understand this, one must listen not to the Americans, not to people on our side, but to the Palestinians.
If there is one thing I have committed to myself since realizing that the Palestinians do not lie about fundamental issues, it is to listen to them without masking what they say with my wishful thinking. For many months now, I have been listening to the voices coming from their side, and through the veil of 'negotiations,' flights to Doha and Paris, and Americans saying 'any minute now,' it is clear that there is no real deal to return all the hostages (and now we even have the document from Bild).
The enormous failure in managing the political, diplomatic, and military campaign has led to the situation where, eleven full months after Hamas and its supporters' invasion and massacre in Israel, Hamas feels secure enough to insist on the same position it presented after the invasion and massacre: full Israeli withdrawal, Hamas remaining in full control of Gaza, including the border with Egypt, and billions flowing in for 'reconstruction' (yes, the same reconstruction as in every previous round). Given the asymmetry in goals, this is Hamas’s definition of 'total victory,' with all the implications for inspiring our enemies as a whole.
For those asking — from Hamas's perspective, it has not paid a price, certainly not one that counts as a price in its eyes. The civilian casualties are not a price, and the skilled killers we have killed are already being replaced by others. As long as Hamas controls Gaza (thanks to Israel's capitulation in allowing regular supplies into Gaza and the total blindness to the double game being played by Qatar and Egypt, and of course, the American stupidity/naivety), and is in a position to demand what it demanded the day after the invasion and massacre.
And even for those saying we should accept this deal with all its implications, it's unclear that it even really exists. Because from Hamas's perspective, the main point is to ensure that Israel won’t attack again or threaten its rule, and for that, it is quite likely that hostages will be retained to ensure a horrifying and drawn-out negotiation over them to prevent Israel from acting against it. The enemy we are facing is not stupid. It has studied Israeli society. The talk of 'we’ll make a deal, and then we’ll do what we want in Gaza' shows that we still underestimate the enemy, its determination, and its sadism.
Instead of facing the horrific failure of managing the campaign since October 7th and acknowledging the determined enemy in front of us, we are tearing ourselves apart, blaming each other, blaming the hostage families who are tormented with worry, and getting bogged down in discussions about negotiations. Instead, we should understand that we need leadership that will conduct a determined campaign and policy (actions, not empty talk) that recognizes the gravity of the moment and the threat, that will not lead us to the terrible choice between abandoning the hostages and Israeli capitulation, and will create a different, new alternative.
The initial major mistake was to assume that the release of the hostages is opposed to the goal of defeating Hamas. It is exactly the same goal—precisely because for Hamas, keeping the hostages is a guarantee of its victory, and therefore, defeating Hamas is the only way to free the hostages. But defeating Hamas depends on a combination of a political, diplomatic, and military campaign that, first and foremost, makes clear that Israel has stopped supplying its enemy during the war, and that at least from Israel's side, nothing goes in until the hostages come out.
This is a policy that makes it clear that Egypt and Qatar are welcome to supply Hamas through the border with Egypt, and we won’t stop it (even if we are stationed at the border). We have a legal obligation to allow it, but not to do it ourselves from within our borders. As long as the enemy has not surrendered and there is no occupation but only a prolonged war, this is not our responsibility. We need a policy that works to clear northern Gaza and Gaza City and pushes the population southward with a clear statement that we will stop only when all the hostages are freed.
We have a bitter enemy who has long believed that the opportunity has fallen into its hands to bring to an end the mad experiment of maintaining a sovereign Jewish state and is acting in the cruelest way toward this goal. This is not an enemy seeking to achieve a limited goal of living alongside us in dignity or freeing some murderers from our prisons. Against such an enemy, we must be no less determined."
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