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dailytelegraph.co.uk
To court Arafat is to succour the enemy of our ally Israel
By Daniel Johnson
News: Blair backs call for Palestinian state
IF 5,500 people had not been horribly
murdered in America on September 11, would
Tony Blair have invited Yasser Arafat to
Downing Street? Why, in the midst of a war
against terrorism, does the Prime Minister
embrace the man who, more than any other,
invented international terrorism?
September 11 ought to have strengthened
Israel's relationship with the West. Israel's
enemies are our enemies. In such a common
predicament, to demonstrate solidarity with
Israel ought to have been an elementary duty.
Instead, our governments have so far done the
opposite. America and Britain have talked up
the creation of an independent Palestinian
state. The purpose of the "peace process" is
no longer to make peace, but to satisfy one
party to the conflict. No peace without full
sovereignty for Arafat's Palestine will be
regarded by London and Washington as just
and permanent.
Mr Blair is demanding that Israelis accept a
new state, carved out of territory that is now
being used to attack them, over which they will
have no control. Most Israelis accept, as I do,
that such a new state will one day exist. But
what reason do they have to suppose that the
new Palestine will not be a terrorist state, like
Syria, Iraq, Libya, Iran and Afghanistan? Other
states, such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia,
offer covert sponsorship. So does Yasser
Arafat. From Oslo to Camp David, even
unprecedented Israeli concessions could not
persuade Mr Arafat to sign a treaty. The
disillusionment of Israeli public opinion with the
peace process since the resumption of the
intifada is total. Yet Mr Blair is demanding that
Israel resume talks with Mr Arafat as if the
suicide bombings, which some 75 per cent of
Palestinians support, had never happened.
Why should Israel trust a man who has
probably had more Jews killed in the past 50
years than anyone since Hitler?
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