An excellent bit of rhetoric, but it unfortunately does not hold up to examination.
The issue is: the world recognizes Israel's pre-67 borders,
Do you really think that the Arab world recognizes pre-'67 borders? What about all the Arab "social justice" organizations such as Hamas and Hizbollah which have incorporated the destruction of Israel into their charters? They may be a small part of the "world" but a very important one, at least to Israel, since they act not with diplomacy and dialogue but with guns, rockets and suicide bombers.
The sad fact is that the events since the 1967 have been mismanaged by all involved parties. It is easy to say that there should not have been West Bank settlements but it is just as easy to say that suicide bombers are abominable. It is just as easy to say that Shabra and Shatila were execrable as it is to say that the Olympic Games terror was unjustified. Lots of blame to be shared by both sides.
I think that the only sane way to look at the problem is to look at lost opportunities.
The first intifada lead directly to Arafat in the Palestinian back yard, instead of in a villa in Tunis. After his return, Arafat arranged for the fun to really begin. This ultimately lead to Arafat's treachery at Oslo, which lead to Arafat's shameful volte face at Camp David under Clinton.
And here we are.
Looking back, do you really think that the Israelis were in bad faith at Camp David or Oslo? Who made the concessions and who refused them or did not live up to agreements?
Please.
Sure it was a mistake to go forward with West Bank settlements, but a mistake the Israelis tried to rectify to no avail. Can you say that Arafat and his band of goons, including Hamas and Hizbollah, have ever wavered from their stated goals to send the Israelis swimming?
I sincerely hope that the Israelis again make the same concessions they made at Camp David. Since all their efforts at peace with the Palestinians have been met with treachery, bombs and betrayal, it would not surprise me if we never see that stance again. And if we don't, the goose is cooked because there will be more bombs and more violence.
Tell me honestly, who do you blame post-Oslo?
Blame, though, is not the way to approach things. Both sides need to act pragmatically--and therein lies the heart of the problem. So far, the Israelis have acted pragmatically. The Palestinians, on the other hand, seem to have an almost genetic inability to act rationally or to follow rational leaders. They seem to prefer sticking their thumbs in Israel's eyes rather than negotiating in good faith.
I'm not optimistic since I think a hidden agenda--the destruction of Israel--is at play. The only way for Israel to survive and for the Palestinians to live decent lives, is for that agenda to be destroyed or to be seen as impossible to fulfill. It will take a rare lucid interval on the part of the Palestinian leadership and Palestinian citizens or the use of a sufficiently brutal amount of force on the part of Israel such that the agenda simply crumbles. Naturally, I prefer the first alternative, but so long as the Palestinians are lead by thugs, it is wishful thinking. |
