Tony Blair Declares Bethlehem Safe – What About Sderot?
Tony Blair stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Bethlehem last night, to show that Bethlehem was a safe place for Christians to visit and to jumpstart the Palestinian Arab economy:
Palestine is a “safe destination” for tourists to visit, envoy to the Quartet Tony Blair said on Tuesday evening.
Speaking to journalists at a joint press conference with the Palestinian minister for tourism, Khouloud Daibes, in the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, Blair said, “Bethlehem is a safe and good place to come.”
Citing Bethlehem as the litmus test for Israeli commitment to peace, he told reporters, “The real test of the sincerity of the Israeli side is if we really get change here in Bethlehem.”
“I know the Palestinian Authority is prepared to do everything it can to meet any legitimate security concerns but really there is no reason why tourists can not come here safely,” he added.
I don’t expect Blair to visit Sderot any time soon, to stay there overnight and to declare how safe it is. I don’t expect him to refer to it as a “litmus test” on Palestinian Arab commitment to peace. I don’t expect him to praise the PA over how well they are helping stop their own Fatah-based Al-Aqsa Brigades from firing rockets at Israel.
Sderot is not on the radar of the “peace” plan. Sderot cannot be found on the roadmap. The 20 rockets that were shot today towards Sderot are not considered an obstacle to peace. It is way too inconvenient to mention Sderot when talking about the sacred “peace process.”
No, Sderot and its residents are not important to Tony Blair and the Quartet. Because if they are forced to think about Sderot, they would be forced to reconsider whether real peace is possible. They would have to recall that the peaceful Palestinian Arabs freely elected a terrorist government in their most recent elections. They would be compelled to remember that the Western-trained PA “security forces” folded immediately in their first real test.
No, the “process” is too important to be derailed by inconvenient facts. Blair knows he is safe from Israeli actions in Bethlehem, but he knows just as well that he is in danger from those peaceful PalArabs should he visit Sderot.
So he won’t.
(cross-posted at Elder of Ziyon)
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see, as much as i agree with you on many things.
the people firing rockets, mainly hamas from my impression, seem to do things independently of the PA/Fatah, since they are practically at war with each other. i’ve always had a problem with israel trying to get the PA to stop hamas. they have become 2 seperate entities.
we have the West Bank and we have Gaza and Tony Blair can only ask that the area of Bethelehem and surrounds be not a source of terrorism.
“No, Sderot and its residents are not important to Tony Blair and the Quartet.”
Ha! Sderot and its residents are not important to the Israeli government, let alone foreigners.
Joshua B – Firstly, Al Aqsa takes credit for shooting many of the Gaza rockets. Secondly, the PA still criticizes Israel for defensive actions in Gaza, so in that sense they have no problem pretending to have solidarity with Hamas.
David – unfortunately true. Check out this post of mine from a year ago, after one month of a “cease fire” with Hamas. Plus this follow-up from April.
Firstly, in this particular attack the 2 orgs responsible were Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Commitees, not the Al-Aqsa Brigades(which is very loosely connected to fatah anyway).
The PA does not have any choice in defending Gazans in Gaza politically. As if they can ever give the green light for Israel to attack their ‘brothers’ i.e hamas, fatah, whatever. The PA is trying to show leadership and promote solidarity in Gaza so they can gain it back. This does not mean it is actually behind the rocket attacks.
On the other hand, Islamic Jihad is strong in Hebron, and they have been responsible for many attacks in Israel in the past. Keeping them quite is what Tony Blair wants.
Don’t be so aggressively anti-Palestinian. Respecting the enemy and understanding it, is half way to defeating it.
When is the Israeli government going to take some serious action against those launching the rockets?
In the US, this would be “an act of war.”
Why isn’t this the same in Israel?