(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Dore Gold - I think you have to respect the national aspirations of both people. That means the people of Israel and the Arab people in what they call Palestine and what will eventually become some kind of Palestinian state. Everyone on the Israeli security side refers to the Jordan Valley as the front line of Israel's defense. Yet the peace process planners have in the last few decades said the IDF has to get out of the Jordan Valley, which contradicts our fundamental security needs. If you can construct a new set of relations between Israel and Palestinians that does address basic needs, I think we've got a shot. U.S. Amb. Martin Indyk: First of all, Dore is right that Palestinians did not respond in particular to the Obama ideas that were put on the table in 2014 because I was involved in that effort and we still haven't had a response from Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas). There is a fundamental problem on the Palestinian side in terms of the way in which they are not willing to engage on ideas which I think were fair and balanced at the time. Dore Gold is President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. This is from a virtual meeting on Middle East Peace sponsored by the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations on July 20, 2020.
2020-08-06 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive