Peace? With whom?

Speaking to the Knesset, PM Netanyahu said Israelis are cynical about the prospects of peace, because of the Palestinians' goal of the peace process, and urged fellow lawmakers to wake up to the fact that Israel simply does not have a viable peace partner.

An example he gave was the ongoing incitement against Israel in the official PA media even as [peace] talks were taking place. The consistent presentation is not about borders or settlements, but rather the negation of…Israel's right to exist at all. He stated that without reciprocity there is no chance for peace.

The Palestinians use a strategy whereby they paint Israel as the obstacle to peace, then sit back and wait for the international community to squeeze concessions out of the Jewish state. Meanwhile, [they] give nothing in return. Eventually, playing along with this will bleed Israel dry… ("Netanyahu: Palestinians have made us cynical about peace process," Israel Today, 4 Nov. 2010)

To begin 2011, Netanyahu called on Abbas to sit down with him in direct talks until 'white smoke emerges', an allusion to how popes are selected. Yet the minimal conditions Bibi has placed on a future "Palestine" in order to secure the existence of Israel, will never be accepted by PA leaders, thank God. …If the Palestinians recognize [Israel as] a Jewish state, if they shelve the idea of the Palestinian refugees' right of return, if they have a demilitarized Palestinian state, and if they agree that this ends the conflict totally, then Israel would sign a peace deal.

Netanyahu is also against any division of Jerusalem… Yet Abbas insists, that east Jerusalem [is] occupied land where Palestinians wanted to establish their capital, and this [is] not up for discussion. ("PM to Abbas: Ready to talk until 'white smoke comes out'," JP, 2 Jan. 2011)