The Best Review, Yet
Reader comment on article: Does Israel Need a Plan?

Submitted by Don Skupsky (United States), Feb 3, 2003 at 12:04

Thank you Daniel! "Does Israel Need a Plan?" provides the most complete and valid approach yet presented.

No major conflict has ever been resolved by negotiations, while one party still believed it could defeat the other. There is no need for negotiations for just a "piece of the pie" when you know that sooner or later you can get the whole pie.

Israel has tried it all. Both Jordan and Egypt made peace with Israel After they concluded they could not win, and both realized they had more to gain by moving forward (including a huge amount of desperately needed money from the US). So the conflict with those two countries have effectively ended.

Clearly, this conflict has never been about a Palestinian state. The Palestinians could have had a state in 1948, between 1948 and 1967 when Jordan and Egypt occupied the land allocated for their state, after 1993 by conforming to the Oslo accords, in 2000 at Camp David, and even today by renouncing terrorist, re-educating their population, reforming their government and accepting peace with Israel.

So, instead of wanting their own state, they want somebody else's state ... Israel. Sadly, so many countries and people don't have the slightest clue what is going on. They view the Palestinians as a "repressed people", when in fact they repress themselves. Their leadership and the Arab world have been their worst enemy.

I still believe, and I know Yasir Arafat would hate to hear this, but Israel is the best friend the Palestinians have. It is only country in the world who understands their plight and is ready to help them achieve peace.

But, the Palestinians must wake up and realize that its peace they want . . . not Israel. I remember in July 2000, before the latest Intifada, the Palestinian economy was great, Palestinians were flooding over the border for good jobs in Israel, terriorism was low and progress was being made toward Palestinian self determination. Now, the Palestinians have over 60% unemployment and significant suffering. What has this round brought them: neither peace, nor prosperity, nor a Palestinian state.

Its time for the Palestinians to admit defeat and permanently give up the dream of Israel as their homeland. Then there can be peace!

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