The era of negotiating with terrorists for the sake of peace is over

By Stanley Zir

President Trump, you were elected to make America great again. Even as we must stand alone until the rest of the free world regains its senses, be courageous and committed. Be the leader we expected you to be. Is respecting terrorists who have become nothing more than foot soldiers in Iran's global terrorist's enterprise a precondition in forming new alliances in the Arab League to stop Iran and bring peace to the Middle East?

In Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, we read, "Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows." In this tempestuous political time, we are witnessing a coupling of bedfellows that is beyond reason, beyond belief and beyond sanity. In particular is the case of Hamas reaching out to Egypt for help as they are faced with increasing isolation and severe electricity shortages in the Gaza Strip. The hope is to have the Rafah border opened, a crossing that has remained closed in recent years because of the tensions between Egypt and Gaza's rulers; Hamas. The Rafah crossing is Gaza's only gateway to the outside and has been under an Israeli blockade. Egypt has also agreed to provide fuel to Gaza for electricity generation in exchange for pressing Hamas to move forward on reconciliation with Fatah, the largest faction of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). In what Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas called the "Final Accord," Hamas and the PA reached an agreement on Thursday, ending a decade-long split. The agreement gives the PA full control of Gaza beginning December 1. Celebration broke out in Gaza after the announcement of the government unifying deal, filled with flag waiving between Egypt, the PA, Fatah and Hamas.

Egypt can now take credit for uniting three separate and independent terrorist enterprises into one, which will surely emerge in a much larger, much stronger and far more dangerous threat to the entire region and the world. Three sharks now circle united under the banner of basic human rights. Who can possibly argue with such an act of compassion and humanity? Certainly not those whose policies and missions call for the destruction of Israel.

So as a result of this "good faith" exercise, the AFP reported that the next day, a high-ranking Hamas delegation visited Iran to inform its backers in Tehran about the reconciliation efforts with rival faction Fatah. The group was led by Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri, who is accused of organizing multiple deadly attacks against Israelis. The group, it is reported, will meet senior Iranian officials over the next several days. We can safely assume that the PLO will encourage Hamas to NEVER recognize Israel.

President Trump's attorney and chief Advisor on Israeli politics, Jason Greenblatt writes on the new Hamas-Fatah reconciliation efforts, "All parties agree that it is essential that the Palestinian Authority be able to assume full, genuine, and unhindered civil and security responsibilities in Gaza and that we work together to improve the humanitarian situation for Palestinians living there. The United States reiterates the importance of adherence to the Quartet principles: any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognize the State of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties, including disarming terrorists and committing to peaceful negotiations. If Hamas is to play any role in a Palestinian government, it must accept these basic requirements."

Which one of these statements is the most delusional? Maybe it starts off all wrong in that "All parties agree...." Perhaps the only thing that all parties will agree on is their mutual hatred of Israel and unified wish for the destruction of the Jews. After that, well, it's a crap shoot. Next, "..Palestinian Authority be able to assume full, genuine, and unhindered civil and security responsibilities in Gaza." Do you really expect that Hamas, not well-known for its peaceful negotiations and willingness to work as a team, will simply step aside and hand over all control to the PA? Do you then expect that the PA really won't resume its previous tyrannical rule? The only exception is that this time it will be legitimized. We can almost certainly not expect them to "work together to improve the humanitarian situation for Palestinians living there." Now we come to the most fallacious statements: 1) "the Quartet principles: any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence." Seriously? Hamas is a terrorist group. Fatah is a terrorist group. PLO is a terrorist group. The Palestinian Authority is a ruling terrorist government. The very definition of a terrorist group is one that commits to violence to achieve its political agenda. 2)"...recognize the State of Israel." Perhaps the only unifying part of the agreement is right here in this statement. All parties are unified in their absolute, unambiguous and definitive tenet that Israel has no right to exist and must be abolished. So that sort of puts the brakes on this part of the agreement. 3) " accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties, including to disarm terrorists and commit to peaceful negotiations." OK, everyone play nicely, put down your guns and don't forget to store your ammunition separately from your firearms in a safe lock box where your children can't reach them. Now everyone hold hands and sing "Kumbaya."

So how what was the first reaction of these now unified and sensible groups? No big surprise here; a Senior Hamas leader denounced the demands by the Trump Administration, in particular protesting the demands that they disarm and recognize the State of Israel. And what about our partners in peace, the Egyptians, who brokered this horrendous deal? Weren't they supposed to be helping with peace mediation between Israel and the Palestinians? Could they have possibly thought for one second that uniting the largest and fiercest terrorist groups in the Middle East and placing it in the West Bank and Gaza, directly in the face of the Israeli government would be seen as an unbiased and impartial step toward peace negotiations? What about Saudi Arabia and its new moderate Islamic policies? Will they soon be uniting with Israel to bring down the new unified terrorist government that openly embraces Iran?

Oh, C'mon already! Enough is enough, President Trump! You, Kushner, Tillerson and the rest can sit around a large table somewhere in Qatar or Baghdad and sing several choruses of "All we are saying, is give peace a chance!" Stop it! Stop deluding yourselves and stop deluding the hopeful American people and stop frightening the people in Israel. My teacher used to say, "If it looks like a duck, and it quack likes a duck, it's pretty much guaranteed that it's a duck!" To rephrase it, " If they hate like terrorists, and they maintain the terrorist mindset, it's pretty much guaranteed that they are terrorists!" Negotiating with terrorist groups just doesn't work. Not only is it fruitless, it goes everything our Constitution stands for. This should be the American Mantra, chanted just after we rise and sing the National Anthem; "America's Constitution's Rule of Law is its unapologetic and firm stance against tyranny." America cannot support any nation or regime whose basic tenet or state government supports oppression, despotism, totalitarianism or cruelty as its rule of law. We don't condone their behavior nor do we make them partners in peace. Stop it! It makes you look foolish and makes America look like idiots.

Presidents since Carter have tried to find a way to peace in the Middle East. Here is the problem. They all start with the basic premise that we are all on the same page. Well, we're not. It's just that simple. We want peace and justice in the world with democratic overtones, human kindness and a rule of law. They all hate the Jews, want to destroy Israel in the worst way, and embrace a world where there is no separation between Mosque and State. In other words, they don't live in a world where religion keeps people moral and humane. Just the opposite! It is their religion that dictates their government, their nobles and their constitutions. You can't simply make that go away or forget about it when trying to move forward in peace. America has got to stop turning a blind eye that peace can be achieved by dealing with a population that gives their allegiance to religious tyrannical decrees. Tyranny is at the core of their belief.

We have to put to rest the insidious notion that terrorist groups, united in their hatred of Jews and Israel, and now emboldened as a unilateral government, and Israel are viable partners for peace. Stop placing Israel in the untenable position of negotiating with murderers, criminal and the likes of Mahmoud Abbas, as if they were equal in their intentions to work toward a common good. If President Trump thinks the Iranian Nuclear deal was an embarrassment to America, he has got to open his eyes and realize that forcing Israel to deal with those determined to wipe her off the face of the earth is not a sustainable strategy. It will not, by any stretch of the imagination, result in peace or economic growth in the Middle East. Continuing to place Israel in the defensive position and forcing her to cede land and dignity is not how we treat our true allies. The questions now is not what does Israel have to do about Gaza, but what steps must she take to escape from the politics of insanity that imposes a two state solution on her by those who are demanding she lives side by side in peace with a terrorist state?

When we were young children, my older brother, who later became a prominent Boston-area doctor, explained to me that primates were higher on the evolutionary spectrum because they possessed an opposable thumb, which allowed the species to grasp items firmly, resulting in the creation of items like tools and wheels. The human brain continued to evolve, separating us from the monkeys, lower on the chain. Therefore, I have to believe that our government leaders and policy makers are not a bunch of vine-swinging monkeys, but sentient and intellectually astute beings. So I can't for the life of me understand exactly where they may be placing those advanced opposable thumbs by making decisions that ignore the obvious dangers and the treasonous repercussions of dealing logically and legitimately with terrorists. Firstly, instead of negotiating a duplicitous Iranian Nuclear Deal, why didn't they just opt to destroy a nuclear facility being built by a county that shares the same depraved religious political agenda that gave birth to the radical Japanese suicidal society of World War Two?

Didn't either party learn anything from the 9/11 attacks on America? It is painful to watch these "semi-intellectual" monkeys band together under the guise of a Road Map to Peace initiative, and place Israel's future and security in jeopardy. Get your opposable thumbs out of your butt! Can you not predict what the outcome of these peace agreements with religious fanatics who embrace an ideology of tyranny, violence and Anti-Semitism will be? It is time to follow our Rule of Law, our unwavering stance against tyranny.

President Trump, when you deviate from this mandate, even a centimeter, believing that religious and secular tyrannies make good bed fellows in peace negotiations, combating Isis and curtailing Iran's nuclear capability, you end up with a mattress filled with bed bugs.

President Trump you have an infestation that has to be eradicated not ignored. Let's be honest. By not labeling the likes of PLO, Hamas, Fatah, Abbas and his cronies as terrorists, you continue to empower their bases and set them up as legitimate partners, hiding their ulterior anti-Semitic agenda and our heads in the sand. When we don't recognize them as terrorists, we opt to discredit Israel (our ally only and humanitarian partner in the Middle East) by asking her to relinquish land, security and power in the misguided belief that this advances peace negotiations forward, knowing full-well that the signature of any terrorist organization on a piece of paper is worthless. The only binding agreement that holds these fascists together is that their DNA contains the same strands of hate and vengeance for Israel and Jews.

Truthfully, it isn't as important that the terrorists recognize Israel, in that it matters greatly that this administration recognizes terrorists for what they are. Legitimizing them and holding them up as honorable citizens of the world only makes the U.S. complicit in stripping Israel of everything she needs to secure her sovereignty. With General Mattis holding that the Palestinians are victims of an apartheid Israeli state, we continue to abandon and isolate our one true ally. http://www.timesofisrael.com/ex-us-general-we-pay-a- price-for-backing-israel/ It is a paradox to claim a strong, unbreakable alliance to Israel, while whittling away at her government, her defense and her reputation.

President Trump, you know the difference between a good deal and a bad one. Standing with terrorists is a bad deal. Let's put an end to this useless Anti-Semitic and Anti-Israel rhetoric and boldly recognize Jerusalem as the undivided and eternal capital of the State of Israel, just as your candidate platform promised. As I stated in 2011 http://docstalk.blogspot.com/2011/03/obamas-solution-amputation-and-more.html "There never was a "West Bank or East JERUSALEM" until the terms were invented to erase the real names which for thousands of years have been (and remain) Judea, Sumaria and Jerusalem."

President Trump, you recently said:

"Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid hasn't worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work."

Then why make Israel the exception to your own rule when it comes to the PLO, Fatah and Hamas? Haven't all of these terrorist organizations, for the last 40 years, sworn allegiance to the destruction Israel?

Egypt has now joined hands with these Terrorist gangs, the same Egypt that had once shared a Nobel Peace Prize for the Camp David Accords. Is respecting terrorists who have become nothing more than foot soldiers in Iran's global terrorist's enterprise a precondition in forming new alliances in the Arab League to stop Iran and bring peace to the Middle. East? President Trump the era of negotiating with terrorists, for the sake of peace, is over!

© Stanley Zir