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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (44909)	9/18/2002 11:29:26 AM
From: Win Smith	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Right. Lewis is on call for propaganda purposes, his "predictons" are dubious. The local warblogger line on Said is pretty bogus too, but that's hardly news. Consider Lewis's words here versus the opinion of the much maligned Said in #reply-17991020 and #reply-17991061 : YOU PEGGED YOUR HOPE ON THE OSLO PROCESS. That would be correct. WERE YOU PROVED WRONG? To my great regret, I must confess I made a mistake. WHAT DID THE ERROR IN YOUR ASSESSMENT STEM FROM? Historically, the Palestinian leaders have consistently made the wrong choice. It started with their refusing the terms of the Peel Commission and their rejection of the UN Partition Plan. They made mistakes in their choice of friends: during the Second World War they chose the Nazis, during the Cold War they chose the Soviet Bloc and in the Gulf War they joined with Saddam Hussein. Do they have an astonishing instinct that pushes them to the verge of destruction? Indeed not. They turned to the enemies of their enemies and this is natural. After the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, they once again had no super power patron, and after the Gulf War, even most of the Arab governments were disgusted with them, particularly those that could offer them financial aid. Under these circumstances, I thought the Rabin government was correct in moving as it did, but it erred in its choice of its partner for the process.” ARAFAT? Yes, the idea of bringing Arafat from Tunis was a mistake. ISRAEL TRIED TO TALK WITH THE PALESTINIAN LEADERS IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES, BUT AT THE MADRID CONFERENCE IT WAS PROVEN THAT THEY HAVE NO LEADER BESIDES HIM. It’s true that according to the resolution of the Arab League, the PLO is the Palestinians’ only representative organization. From this distance in time it is hard for me to judge if it would have been better to insist on finding an alternative to it, or perhaps there was no other choice. IN AN INTERVIEW YOU SAID THAT THE ONES WHO CONDUCTED THE NEGOTIATIONS ON BOTH SIDES WERE COMPLETE AMATEURS. WHAT DID YOU MEAN? It’s clear they were not professional diplomats and they did not have much experience in conducting negotiations. jewsweek.com Lewis sounds great in hindsight, but Said sounded much better contemporaneously. Lewis is great for the war marketing effort, though. Predictions? Somehow, I doubt that Perle and Co. go to Lewis for that. They may be ideologues, but they ain't stupid.