Does anyone still remember Binyamin Netanyahu's election platform? As the blonde blogger from "Eretz Nehederet" might say - Passe, Jose.
Criticized for yet again flip-flopping in his call to Abbas to sit at the negotiating table, the PM put on his best face of sincerity to assure his constituency that he has not changed his position.
While Abbas tries to get back to the negotiating table to make amends to Obama without drawing a target on his chest, Bibi tries to help him get there while not appearing to fly in the face of his election promises and historical comments which so often come back to haunt him.
He has no intention of restarting negotiations with the Palestinians on the basis of the pre-Six Day War lines, says he, throwing cold water on Palestinian claims to the contrary. His position remains that the pre-1967 lines are not the starting point for talks, but that the reference point should be secure and defensible borders for Israel.
Like a bulging water balloon, however, his statement pushed his critics back a step or two but the bulge was just forced over to Abbas's side of the balloon. Abbas will have a hard time sitting at the table if the first course hasn't already been digested.
And according to PM Netanayahu,"That is not going to happen,"
US Mideast envoy George Mitchell, who was widely expected to visit the region either this week or next, is now not expected until the third or fourth week of January. He has not been here since early November. Might that be a sign that you can't fool all of the people all of the time?
