Earlier today we mentioned Netanyahu's three adlibbed conditions for Palestinian self-government. From the transcript of his press conference: "If, however, the Palestinians recognize
Israel as the Jewish state, if they — if they fight terror, they
educate their children for peace and to a better future, then I think
we can come to a substantive solution that allows the two peoples to
live side by side in security and peace."
A friend's response:
The first condition, about calling it "the Jewish state," is merely picturesque and denominational; a piece of sentiment meant for no other purpose than to show what monstrous deniers the people are who would not oblige. The second and third conditions are absurdly insubstantial, vague, almost metaphorical. They are what the philosophers call indefeasible–impossible to see what actions would confirm and what would disappoint such a request. To arrive in the U.S. as unprepared as this is a calculated insult. Like a mobster asking a reform police commissioner, "What do you mean by drugs, and what do you mean by bootleg?"
