If a Tree Falls in a Forest and Nobody Hears It, Does It Make a Noise?

From YNet News:

Saudi minister calls for Israeli response on talks

Buenos Aires - Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Wednesday that lack of positive response from Israel to initiatives for Middle East peace would make Arab nations review their position.

[Saudi Arabia has never communicated its "initiative" to Israel. It refuses to communicate with Israel, even refusing to shake hands with the Israeli representatives at the Annapolis Conference, even refusing to use the same entrance.

How is Israel supposed to react to a proposal that's never been communicated to it?

If, perhaps by osmosis, Israel learns of the alleged initiative, how is it supposed to convey any reaction to Saudi Arabis if Saudi Arabia refuses contact?]

"We hope that Israel responds positively to our quest and efforts, to avoid desperation that would force us to review our options," al-Faisal said in a speech at the opening a meeting of Latin American and Arab nations' foreign ministers in Buenos Aires.

Al-Faisal said Arab participation in last November's conference in Annapolis, Maryland to launch a new bid for Middle East peace was based on the idea of entering a new era of talks.

[Interesting idea: entering a new era of talks without talking.]

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed on Tuesday to accelerate US-backed peace talks after critics warned Israel not enough was being done to get a deal this year.

[Some examples of "not enough:"

• Not enough Kassams aren't being launched at Israeli civilians.
• Not enough Arab terrorists are being restrained by the Palestinian Authority.
• Not enough schoolchildren are not being incited by the Palestinian Authority.
• Not enough brutal terrorists aren't being lionized by the supposedly moderate Ramallah branch of the Palestinian Authority.

One could go on and on, although that's not what the unnamed critics have in mind.]

"It is not logic to always blame the weak side of the equation. The Palestine people are suffering and it cannot be ignored what Israel is doing as far as expanding settlements," al-Faisal said.

[Of course, if the Arabs were interested in peace, having a handful of Jews living in the currently disputed territories would be no more an issue than having more than a million Arabs living in Israel.

One sign that the Arabs are finally ready to seriously discuss peace is when they stop complaining about Jewish communities in Eretz Yisrael.

One might also note the Palestinian Arabs are backed by hundreds of millions of Arabs living in dozens of Arab states and have an automatic overwhelming majority in the United Nations backing any absurd anti-Israel resolution they introduce, so it's rather absurd to imply the Palestinian Arabs are the "weak side of the equation."]

The negotiations that were launched in Annapolis have been stalled by disputes over Israeli plans to build new homes near Jerusalem and Olmert's insistence on putting off talks about the future of Jerusalem.

[Actually, they've been stalled by the fact that they're essentially pointless as long as Kassams are constantly being launched from Hamastan, as long as the Ramallah branch of the Palestinian Authority continues to refuse to dismantle its terrorist infrastructure and as long as the Palestinian Authority continues to instill hatred in its schoolchildren.]