Reply #26: Everything can be negotiated, Kurska [View All]

[Chulanowa]

The question is, does Israel actually want recognition? Or is "recognition" simply a stonewall tactic, as most "preconditions" tend to be?

It's an important question. You see, Israel makes an unreasonable precondition - and with the issues I outlined above, non-negotiable, immediate recognition is awfully unreasonable - and then when the other side refuses to meet that precondition, Israel then gets to pretend to be butthurt over it for the cameras. Aside from the obvious propaganda value this has (look at you chomping at it for instance!) it also prevents Israel's worst-case scenario; a sudden breakout of peace (see my post below).

Nasrallah is, basically, calling Israel's bluff here. He's not simply dodging the precondition, he's stomping on it. While that's not bad propaganda for Israel, it's pretty good for hezbollah, too - "Our guy stands up for our principles" sort of thing.

So, here's the thing. Contrary to your beliefs, "never" is a pretty meaningless word in politics, and almost always carries a silent "under present conditions" along with it. That is... this position can be negotiated, softened up. If Israel is actually interested in its precondition being met... it will talk with Hezbollah about this. This is, of course, what Hezbollah wants, to negotiate the precondition to negotiation.

Or. Or Israel can simply blow it off. Doing so will essentially be like saying "we were just fucking with you, anyway, dudes," exposing Israel's non-interest in a peace process. While not exactly a coup for Hezbollah, it's very good grist for the propaganda mill.

Welcome to the world of politics, Kurska. This situation has far more going on than "This side is pure righteous good, that side is unadulterated heartless evil"

Hopefully, either way the whole world will have learned a valuable lesson - preconditions are always barriers to negotiations and thus always barriers to peace.