Amos Malka stated that were Israel to offer Yasser Arafat today a state on 97 percent of the territories whose capital is Jerusalem, with land swaps and the return of 20,000-30,000 Palestinian refugees to Israel, the Palestinian leader would sign the deal, and order his countrymen to put down their arms."
That's his opinion, which most Israelis don't believe. Arafat thinks he is the armed struggle, it defines him. If he could give it up, he would have in 2000.
Now, were any Israeli government stupid enough to offer Arafat a huge reward for starting the intifada (which he is losing, badly, at the moment, as you seem to have missed), Arafat might say he agreed, being in a tight spot at the moment. But Arafat would be lying, and the intifada would only continue as soon as the gains had been acquired. Just so, Arafat was a tight spot in 1993, when he agreed to the Oslo accords. Arafat broke every part of the Oslo Accords from day one. The vast majorities of Israelis know, if diehard lefties like Akiva Elder do not, that it's worse than useless to collect any more of Arafat's worthless promises. |
