Is this him writing?
It appears that Arabs and Jews were never able to find the winning formula and were never able to bridge the immense gaps, which leave both sides close but far; neighboring but suspicious.
_____ is home to two population groups that are united by one common denominator: Business interests. This is indeed a significant motive, yet even this, with all due respect to its importance, is not everything.
The hummus is important, and so is the falafel, and people greeting each other, yet on the inside something is cracked. In essence, the abyss separating both sides is still there. It is lethal and destructive: The evidence of that is the latest outburst of fury and the violent clashes.
Recently, ____ underwent a physical transformation. Streets were widened, sidewalks were renovated, and palm trees were planted. However, those who invested in stones forgot about the people for some reason.
Naw, it's about Akko.
And since we've mentioned Peres, let's dig something up from 13 years ago:-
Middle East Quarterly: Foreign Minister Peres, you told me personally, some time ago, that the Jewish settlements in the West Bank will have to consider living under Arab rule. Do you still think this way?
Shimon Peres: Yes.
MEQ: You do?
Peres: Yes, eventually. If you'll check, most of the things I told you came true.
...MEQ: Did the Austrian Chancellor insist on the money be checked about the way it's being spent?
Peres: Yes, we are now making arrangements for what is being called "Transparency Accountability."
MEQ: Are the Palestinians grateful for your trying to help them?
Peres: Many of them, but not everybody.
MEQ: Should there be elections among the Palestinians today, would Hamas win?
Peres: I don't know why Hamas should participate in the coming elections.
MEQ: Because they are Palestinians.
Peres: OK. Suppose they will win. What are they going to do with their victory? Shoot at us? For that they don't need a victory, you see. They need rifles. They need bullets, not ballots.
MEQ: Will they stop the peace process?
Peres: And then what are they going to do? Their whole existence is based on unreasonableness. So what do they need to win for?
...MEQ: Wherever Palestinians had elections, in the Gaza Strip or the territories, during the last several weeks, the extremists won . . .
Peres: That's not true. No. Just a couple of weeks ago, there were elections near Gaza and the PLO won 76 percent.
MEQ: I beg to differ. I think it was not the PLO but Hamas that won. [they did:"On December 5, 1994 Hamas won a sweeping victory in the elections to the students body of the Islamic University in Gaza. Its candidates received 91.48 percent of the votes," Ma'ariv, Dec. 6, 1994]
Peres: You may beg to differ but it won't change the fact that the PLO won.
...MEQ: Just a hypothetical question. Let's say that Hamas runs, let's say that it wins, let's say it takes over democratically fair and square. What happens to the peace process?
Peres: Well, if it is against peace, so the peace will not be continued. If it's for peace, we shall go ahead.
...Peres: ...The situation on the West Bank is more complicated than Gaza because of the spread of the Jewish settlements. From a political point of view, the West Bank looks like a bed full of nails.
MEQ: Every settlement a nail?
Peres: Yes. Wherever you want to lie down, you have nails. So we have to work out a highly imaginative plan, [in 2005, the Disengaement went through and all Jews and Jewish presence was removed from Gaza. Hamas through out the Fatah PA government there and the firing of rockets, tunnel-diggning and infiltration terror continues unabated]
You want more stupidity?
...Peres: ...The Arab League is part of the past. There is no room for an Arab League.
...MEQ: Syria is still considered a terrorist state on the State Department's list. Does it really make sense to cut a deal with President Hafiz al-Asad, who rules not by the will of his people, but by the violence of his soldiers? Once he dies, who knows who is going to replace him?
Peres: Well, the system of government is transitional, peace is permanent. So even if you don't like the system, peace remains the main option.
MEQ: Do you know that Asad appointed his son, an eye surgeon, as commander of the Armor Corps?
Peres: I'm not impressed. It doesn't bother me...I don't think that for the time being he has any real war option.
...MEQ: ...Iranian soldiers wore keys on their necks to open up the Garden of Eden; they engaged in suicide missions to blow up the American Marine barracks in Beirut and an Israeli city bus in Tel Aviv. How can you deal with such fanatics?
Peres: They are not illogical. Fundamentalism is a way of protesting against poverty, corruption, ignorance, and discrimination. So if you want to bring an end to it, you have to approach the roots of it, the reasons for it...You have to have a new economy, a higher standard of living. And that is what we are trying to build in the Middle East.
MEQ: Can you give me your assessment of when Iran might have the nuclear bomb?
Peres: The enigma of Iran can hang over our heads for the coming ten years, unless Khomeinism will fall, which I believe will happen.
MEQ: Reason?
Peres: It doesn't have answers for the problems of Iran. Khomeini called for an increase in the birth rate. Since Khomeini came to power, Iran has an added 22 million people. They don't have food, they don't have money. Their international debt is $60 billion. Unemployment is rising, the mullahs themselves are divided. Sooner or later they will come down.
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