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Source: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/10/05/101464/commentary-calling-all-bluffs.html
Calling All Bluffs in Middle East Peace Negotiations
(McClatchy) Frida Ghitis - The ultimate goal of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations is an agreement on the creation of a Palestinian state, something Palestinians insist they desperately want. Yet it is the Palestinian side that threatens to walk out. Israelis beg them to stay, as if negotiations were a big favor to Israel. Many Israelis believe Palestinians have no real intention of seeing the talks through. They say Palestinians want an excuse to blame Israel for the talks' failure and would rather pursue alternative strategies. Those alternatives include, for the most extremist, the destruction of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian state not just in the West Bank and Gaza but in all of Israel. (Official Palestinian television routinely promotes this idea.) The other possible strategy is making the international community - including Washington - pressure Israel to compromise without Palestinian concessions. That approach helped bring the just-expired settlement moratorium.