Peace Talks? What Peace Talks?

Israeli “peace” shenanigans continue. The joke of the day here in Palestine goes as follows: An openly racist Israeli Prime Minister, who has gone on record to reject the two-state solution, has appointed a former foreign minister, who himself has gone on record to reject a Palestinian state, as the “peace” envoy in the new Israeli government. Silvan Shalom, who has expressed his full support for West Bank settlement expansion, has been tasked with pursuing peace talks with the Palestinians.

Now just to be completely clear here, and in order for us to avoid any confusion, peace talks in the Israeli lexicon are defined as follows: a process led by the incumbent government with the purpose of misleading the world to believing that Israel is interested in a just and fair solution to the so-called Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The process is meant to show Israeli seriousness (wink wink) in really really really thinking very very hard about an end to the control of around 6 million people. The thinking/brainstorming process should take no less than an estimated 10 to 15 years, while the talks themselves are expected to conclude in about 25-50 years. All the while, settlements can continue to expand in a hush hush fashion, and sometimes in a boastful fashion depending on the mood of the incumbent government. Altogether, the process should conclude in a maximum of 65 years because time is of the essence of course. Now, if ever there’s a hint of a common ground reached or if the international pressure on Israel increases during the talks, sprinkle the process with some impossible conditions like recognition of a Jewish state, full Israeli control of Jerusalem, etc. etc. in order to accuse the Palestinians of being unreasonable and blame them for stalling the process altogether. All the while the international community is expected to applaud the incumbent government for its good will, hard work, and serious commitment to peace talks while complaining about the complexity and difficulty of the task at hand.

Really excited about nearing an end to occupation