Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu ordered his government, with a few exceptions, to stop talking to the Palestinians.
Under Netanyahu's order, cabinet ministers and their ministry directors can no longer meet their Palestinian counterparts, though lower-level contacts will continue. The sides frequently work on day-to-day issues, including the environment and security.
The government official said Israel's leading negotiator, Tzipi Livni, would be an exception from Netanyahu's order.
Bibi's move is a petulant response to the PA's exercise of the right of the Palestinian peoples' right to self-determination. And this is on top of his petulant refusal to release the last round of prisoners that were agreed on by both parties. This move shows that he is currently happy with the state of perpetual warfare between the two parties. It also shows that he never wanted these talks to succeed in the first place given that he scuttled them in the manner in which he did and given that he never stopped settlement construction while the talks were in progress.
And given that the sides work on day to day issues like security, it is clear that Bibi's move will only weaken security for Israel, not strengthen it. And it will only weaken the quality of life for his people given that there will be little cooperation on the environment.
Neither side is sincere in wanting peace. The PA still calls for the destruction of Israel in its charter. As long as they exist for the purpose of waging war against another country, Israel is not going to listen to them. But this latest breakdown of talks between Israel and the Palestinians means that the US needs to fundamentally reevaluate how it sends military aid to foreign countries. The US has no business sending billions of dollars every year in military aid when the recipient does not reciprocate by making progress on human rights. This doesn't just include Israel, it includes Saudi Arabia and any other country who receives US military aid and who is a major human rights violator.
All these billions of dollars that are being sent to prop up foreign dictators who we have fundamental philosophical differences with could have been spent to create equal pay for women within government; it was noted that at the White House, while it is better than the national average, it still only pays women 88% of what it pays men. And these billions of dollars could have also been spent on mental health training and prevention, which might have helped prevent today's tragedy in Pennsylvania, in which 20 people were stabbed.
While it is unconscionable for the US to continue to send more and more military aid to dictators year in and year out, we can and must develop economic ties and cooperation with the rest of the world and create stability. We have too many mutual interests with Russia and China not to work together to solve the world's problems. All three of us have common cause against terrorism, climate change, instability, poverty, pollution, and hunger. This is not an argument for isolationism, but an argument for non-interventionism. The US should only send military aid to democratic regimes.