[Hudson Institute New York] Alan M. Dershowitz - The people of Gaza really believe that the Holocaust never occurred. They really believe that firing rockets at school children is God's command. They really believe that Jews are a combination of the devil, monkeys, pigs and vermin. They really believe that Israel doesn't want peace and seeks to destroy the Islamic world and its holy places. It is difficult to build an enduring peace on such a structure of lies. That is why the Oslo Accords insisted that the Palestinians stop teaching their children to hate, stop teaching their teachers to lie and stop inciting violence against the Jews. In this respect, the Palestinian leadership, both in Gaza and the West Bank, has been an utter failure. Not much can be expected from the Hamas leadership, but even the Palestinian Authority has failed miserably in this regard. Israel, on the other hand, has a free and open press in which the Palestinian narrative is presented honestly and fully - indeed sometimes more favorably to the Palestinians than is warranted by the facts. It should come as no surprise therefore that far more Israelis than Palestinians favor a compromise peace. The two-state solution cannot be built on lies.
2009-09-03 08:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive