What has been guaranteed to Israel
Over the weekend, 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President The Roadmap calls for final-status negotiations in Phase III “based on UNSCR 242.” It does not mention the June 4, 1967, lines, much less endorse them as “borders.” The U.S. has at least three times formally assured Israel of “defensible borders” as the outcome of the peace process: (1) in the January 16, 1997, letter from Secretary of State Warren Christopher to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; (2) in the April 14, 2004, letter from President George W. Bush to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon; and (3) in the January 16, 2009, Memorandum of Agreement between the U.S. and Israel. Only such borders meet the Resolution 242 requirement that Israel’s borders be not only recognized but also secure.There will be a quiz tomorrow. Heh.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:40 AM
2 Comments:
The Palestinians' and Syrians' idea of "negotiation" is for Israel to give up everything in exchange for some vague promises of "normal" relations. Well if those relations are anything like the one Israel has with Egypt and Jordan its not a great bargain. Israel should not place its very existence in the hands of Arab regimes that can change literally overnight. In a dangerous neighborhood Israel needs secure borders more than a piece of paper that is not certain to last even a generation.
Abbas and the West doesn't understand that. But Israelis do and the "peace process" has taught them Israeli concessions are usually the prelude to another round of them. Neither the Palestinians nor the Syrians will be satisfied by anything Israel can offer them.
Moreover, life comes with no guarantee. Even life lacks a guarantee. And the Arab side moreover refuses to accept the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish State and while Israeli thinking vis a vis the Palestinians has undergone a conceptional and philosophical revolution in the past 16 years, the Arabs are still at the stage of outright rejectionism they were 35 years ago, according to what Barry Rubin wrote today.
In short, don't look for that to change any time soon or for Middle East peace to happen in this generation.
From Britain's repeated violations of the terms of the Mandate to the UN deciding the 2000 withdrawal from Lebanon was verified with a "faulty GPS unit" so they can support Hezbollah's claims for Har Dov, international "guarantees" are a sick joke. And US promises aren't much better, even before Obama.
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