(Ha'aretz) Zvi Gabbay - Negotiations with the Palestinians, mediated by the Americans, are going on as if Gaza does not exist. One must suppose that if an agreement is signed, Hamas or Islamic Jihad (based in Gaza), supported by Iran - which also opposes a deal with Israel - will continue to attack Israel with missiles and rockets. The current negotiations are completely cut off from the Palestinian reality, which has two entities, one in Ramallah and one in Gaza, competing for supremacy on the Palestinian streets. Abbas is not the leader of all Palestinians. Although he sits in Ramallah, where the Palestinian government traditionally sits, he does not speak for all Palestinians. Therefore, he's in no rush to seal the deal with Israel. The goal of Palestinian leaders, who are the descendants of the leaders of gangs that fought against the Jewish pioneers, is to uproot the Jewish state from the region. We must wait until a Palestinian leader arises who can unite all Palestinians around him; one that truly, honestly aspires to coexistence with the Jewish entity - the State of Israel. In the meantime, independent Palestinian government should be encouraged, in order to increase their quality of life and promote economic cooperation between the two peoples. The writer is a former Israeli ambassador to Ireland and deputy director general of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
2014-04-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive