(Miami Herald) Editorial - Mr. Obama has gone about as far as any American president can go in playing bad cop - pressuring Israel to make "hard choices." But instead of responding positively, Mr. Abbas is making all the wrong moves: shunning negotiations, making a pact with Israel's sworn enemies, and trying to outmaneuver Israel by taking the Palestinian cause to the UN. None of these actions will bring Palestinians closer to fulfilling their national hopes of creating an independent state. The realities that govern the peacemaking process are: Israel must have safe and secure borders. Neither the American public nor any U.S. president will support any deal that fails to win Israel's agreement. No agreement is possible as long as the Palestinian Authority has embraced the terrorists of Hamas as allies. Mr. Abbas should also rid himself of the persistent illusion in the Arab world that Palestinians can't get a fair hearing because American policy is dictated by an Israeli lobby. On 9/11, the Israeli people mourned alongside Americans. On the West Bank, cheers of celebration rang out. Americans don't need a lobby to remind them of that.
2011-05-27 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive