Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority know without a doubt that Hamas kidnapped the three teens in Gush Etzion a week and a half ago. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his ministers, who are playing dumb now, learned the identities of the terrorists even before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did. In my opinion, Netanyahu should not have placed responsibility on Abbas for the kidnapping. Also, the prime minister should have appreciated Abbas' condemnation of the kidnapping. But even if Netanyahu did not react the way Abbas wanted, over what is the Palestinian leader threatening to turn to the U.N. Security Council? That the Israel Defense Forces is "leaving no stone unturned" in the search for the teens? In reality, Abbas should extend his hand and offer to aid in the search so that Operation Brother's Keeper can be completed as soon as possible. Due to the disappointing lack of persistence of the Western world and the misnamed "State of Tel Aviv," it is preordained that, within a few days, support for Operation Brother's Keeper will dwindle and the European Union will quickly return to blaming Israel for everything. They will even have a stack of Hebrew articles they can use to justify this. This is why Operation Brother's Keeper should have been ended earlier, with greater force applied in a shorter amount of time. But the IDF did not act this way. It moved slowly, even sluggishly. There are some who say the IDF was unable to operate effectively in the dense population centers, which is where it stands to reason the kidnappers preferred to hide the teens, rather than in small villages or open spaces. Not everyone agrees on whether this was the right approach to take, but the IDF acted cautiously, using tweezers in a pinpoint fashion. Other than in a few problematic locations, where the IDF spent up to a day, routine life for the Palestinians was not disrupted. There is also no real danger that Israel will interfere with Palestinians during the approaching Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On are now demanding that Israel renew peace talks with Abbas. How can this be done while the teens are still held captive by terrorists and the IDF search for them is ongoing- When these people say that Netanyahu does not really want peace talks, I am inclined to think there is a high chance they are correct. But they are wrong when they say Abbas is a partner for peace. Abbas was definitely the one who shut down the recent negotiations. And it is impossible to renew the talks from the point where they left off as long as the fate of the three kidnapped teens remains murky.
