Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Gaza turmoil
 James M. Wall, Christian Century, discusses White House Middle East policy chief Elliott Abrams'alleged plan, contained within a leaked 16-page document, to "arm and train Fatah loyalists" so that they might "topple the Hamas government" (tonykaron.com).He concludes that "The realities of U.S. military funding of Fatah and U.S. training of Fatah troops leave little doubt that the U.S. is once again choosing sides in another country's internal conflict, and once again displaying the arrogance that led to disasters in Vietnam, El Salvador, Guatemala and Iraq." |
Accept the Saudi Initiative
JERUSALEM - Four years after it was first presented, the Arab Peace Initiative is finally coming to centre stage. Rumours of behind the scenes meetings and negotiations on the Initiative between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Saudi national security advisor Prince Bandar bin Sultan have been strengthened by reports that the Saudi prince is trying to modify the Initiative so that it will be more acceptable to Israel.
by Gershon Baskin
In the heart of Palestinian consensus
 TEL AVIV - Forty years after the Six-Day War, the Palestinian attitude that has become consolidated toward the State of Israel is quite clear: It is possible and necessary to achieve an agreement for coexistence with Israel on the basis of the 1967 borders. Israelis who think it is possible to reach an accord with the Palestinians that includes annexation of settlement blocs in the West Bank or leaves East Jerusalem under Israeli jurisdiction are deluding themselves. In all the decades that have passed since occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, not a single Palestinian voice has been heard that agrees to less than that. Of course, there have been those who demanded more, and even today some want to destroy Israel entirely, but no Palestinian will agree to allow Israel to annex even one meter beyond the boundaries of the Green Line. by Danny Rubinstein |
Bush won't get much help in Iraq unless he earns it in Palestine
 Daily Star Editorial | date: 2007-01-25BEIRUT - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's emphasis on the "road map" as a route to Middle East peace and the Quartet as a vehicle to get there betray a fundamental misunderstanding of how Palestinian-Israeli negotiations broke down and why they have remained in stasis. The "road map" envisions a series of preparatory steps and delays a final status agreement until the final stage. But all of the foundations for a workable peace pact have already been laid through decades of negotiations, including those that took place during the administration of her boss's predecessor, Bill Clinton, who sought a deal until the very last weeks of his presidency. While Clinton's effort established that an American president could summon the stamina for an exhaustive peace process, he too fell short of securing ironclad commitments from the Israelis and Palestinians. |
Palestine's leaders have become their own worst enemies
Daily Star Editorial date: 2007-01-11
BEIRUT - Ever since Hamas came to power in democratic elections last January, the spectre of internecine violence has haunted the Palestinian territories. Attempts over the past year to negotiate an agreement that would allow Hamas and Fatah to share power were interrupted by armed clashes, but many still held out hope that the two factions would eventually recognize the futility of their ways and arrive at some form of compromise.
However, this past week has seen a rapid degeneration from bad to worse: a series of gun battles, abductions and raids-occurrences which have become alarmingly common in the territories-culminated with officials from Hamas and Fatah issuing public threats to kill one another's leaders. The chasm between the two factions has never been wider, and the leaders of both parties are to blame for dragging their population to the brink of civil war.
Palestinians as partners
 Ziad Asali writes, "A historic negotiated compromise that results in a viable state of Palestine on land occupied in 1967, with mutually agreed borders and with Arab Jerusalem as its capital, is an Israeli imperative as it is a Palestinian need. It is Israel's best guarantee to survive the new existential strategic threats and the ultimate guarantee for security and peace for both nations. And for Palestinians to achieve their freedom and viable state, they must repudiate Hamas' regression to the olden days of rejection of Israel's pre-1967 borders." |
Israel and Hamas' Truce Offer
 One of the most common themes heard in discussions of U.S. policy in the Middle East these days is that Washington should be speaking to the key players in the region -- like Syria, Iran, Hamas and Hizbullah -- instead of boycotting them. Yet when it comes to Israel speaking with Hamas in Palestine, the same rational suggestions are not heard. Israel remains a state that enjoys unique standards of behavior in the world, both in terms of what it should and should not do. |
