Repeating Oslo?

Submitted by Barry Rab (Israel), Jun 11, 2003 at 10:17

Here in Israel a lot of ordinary "folks" mainly immigrants from Morroco and Yemen see President Bush's attempt at peace making just a repeat of Oslo.

The same tired comments after the futile Israelli attempt to kill a Hamas leader, yesterday 05/10/03, just seem to reinforce this thinking. After the president's comments some Arab co-workers started laughing that this just shows that America is running out of steam. How long before the attrition in Iraq gets results?

Instead of effectively sidelining Arafat before starting on his roadmap, he has created a credibility gap among the electorate here which leaves Sharon with reduced support for American demands.

Also, and very important in the loss of credibility is the inclusion of the EU and the UN in this peace trip. A lot of people have commented that the Europeans and the UN continue to support Arafat so as to have a proxy with which to beat Israel . Common logic here in the market place.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".