(Ha'aretz) Yoel Marcus - As a reporter who covered the Camp David summit hosted by President Jimmy Carter, I wonder if we would ever have achieved a peace agreement had Egypt demanded the freezing of the settlements in Sinai and other preconditions for the final negotiations. American mediators have wasted months listening to far-fetched Palestinian excuses for refusing direct negotiations with Israel. It isn't clear why the idea of proximity talks came up when Mahmoud Abbas and his friends used to come and go freely for talks with Israel's prime minister and foreign minister in Jerusalem. What the U.S. administration has proposed is not proximity but distance - keeping the two sides apart. America says Israel must prove that it is committed to peace. It is unfortunate that the Obama administration is not making this demand of the Palestinians as well.
2010-03-22 10:12:24Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive