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Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/655681.html
The Key is in the Hands of the West
(Ha'aretz) Moshe Elad - It is naive on the part of the U.S. and Europe to think that 100 bloody years of conflict between the Zionist and the Arab national movements, and three decades of a violent struggle between Israelis and Palestinians, will come to an end only by encouraging the election of Marwan Barghouti and his gang. At the end of January we will discover that Israel's new partner is very democratic, but also very extremist in its demands. Therefore, the key will once again be in the hands of the West. All the means of pressure available there - from severing diplomatic ties to stopping the transfer of money - must be applied to the democratic leadership that is about to arise in the Palestinian Authority, in order to force it to be flexible, to compromise, and to talk peace. Otherwise, the next leader to conduct the negotiations with Israel will be as democratic as Yasser Arafat and as liberal as Izz al-din al-Qassam.