Israel Matzav

'A practical idealist who knew where he stood and wouldn't budge'

The New York Sun pays tribute to former Prime Minister Yitzchak Shamir.

He was the second longest-serving premier, after Ben Gurion. It was under his leadership that Israel attended the Madrid peace conference. The parley was established without crossing Shamir’s redlines; the Palestine Liberation Organization did not have a seat, nor did the Madrid talks include Arabs from Jerusalem. It was a more hard-headed, more principled process than the one for which it was abandoned, namely Oslo.

One of our favorite facts is that history doesn’t disclose her alternatives. The world will never know what would have happened had America and the other parties been held to the standards Shamir insisted on at Madrid. No doubt there are many who will scorn the very thought. But here we are a generation after Oslo, and the Iranians are building an a-bomb, the Arafat who was embraced at Oslo is gone without achievement, the Eyptians have just elected a president who will make it a priority to seek the release of the sheik who masterminded the first bombing of the World Trade Center, the Syrians are engulfed in a civil war, the Lebanese are victims of Iranian-based terror and tyranny, and the Europeans are more hostile to Israel than ever. So the world will miss this practical idealist who knew where he stood and wouldn’t budge.

My guess is that had the world been held to Shamir's standards, we would be exactly where we are today in terms of the 'peace process' (i.e. nowhere) with 1,500 fewer dead Israelis.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: Madrid Conference, Yitzchak Shamir

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:17 PM