(New York Post) John Podhoretz - Twice in 2000 and once in 2008, Israel offered Palestinians a state in exchange for a declaration of peace. In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Palestinian territory of Gaza and left it to the Gazans to rule themselves. The Palestinians met both the offers and the withdrawal with multiple wars, thus giving the lie to the fantasy that all you need to achieve peace is an outstretched hand. Now the U.S. proposes a plan that takes account of Israel's security needs and Palestinian aspirations for sovereignty and statehood. What's different here is that the U.S. is no longer demanding that Israel place itself in existential jeopardy by giving up vital security territory alongside the Jordan River - or that it unilaterally surrender part of Jerusalem, just to be nice. Nor does it make the preposterous demand that the Jewish state cede the towns and neighborhoods they have built over the past 53 years to help the Palestinians make the West Bank effectively Jew-free. It says that no Palestinians and no Israelis will be uprooted from their homes.
2020-01-29 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive