Friday, October 15, 2010

Can The Minister Convince the Prime Minister?

Minister Benny Begin asserts:

The assumption that Israeli willingness for far-reaching concessions suffices to bring peace to Israel has been proven false twice in the past decade.

And continues:

Two Israeli prime ministers, from different parties, in 2000 and in 2008, offered far-reaching concessions to the leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which rejected their offers. So to dispel the harsh impression left by the string of failures that has followed the Oslo concessions, the professional peace processors offered localized excuses: Just give them another round of concessions, and everything will be fine.

But will he convince the Prime Minister of this?

...the logical conclusion to be drawn from the negotiating failures of the past 17 years is in fact the reverse: As long as the PLO persists in its extreme positions, as long as it does not renounce the Fatah platform - which was updated at the organization's sixth convention in Bethlehem in August 2009 and once again reiterated its permanent aim of "destroying the Zionist entity and liberating Palestine" - no Israeli government, from either the right or the left, will be able to achieve a peace agreement.

No comments: