The Palestinians now say they wished to continue to negotiate,
Which Palestinians, led by whom? If this is true, you've got information I haven't seen.
All I saw after the Barak/Arafat talks were suicide bombers, not exactly the best way to intimate a desire to negotiate. Arafat certainly was not willing to negotiate.
I think the truth is that Arafat saw a glimmer of peace, with Israel a viable state as part of the deal, and did not want to negotiate further because it meant the end of his maximalist "send the Jews swimming" fantasy.
But you're right, I can't prove it. However, this version fits better with the reality of the abrupt end to negotiations followed by suicide bombers.
And, of course, not all Palestinians want an end to Israel. Unfortunately, Arafat's tactics have radicalized a lot of them because they drew the utterly predictable response Arafat would have been an idiot not to anticipate, namely, an invasion of the West Bank. |
