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Time Not Ripe for Two-State Solution

[Ynet News] Eytan Bentsur - The Obama administration will have to tackle the rehabilitation of Gaza under Hamas rule: to secure aid to assure the fundamental wellbeing of its inhabitants, while at the same time curtailing the influx of weaponry into Gaza. The fight against terror has to be continued in all vigor. The belligerent policy of Hamas should be continuously subject to international boycott and isolation with minimal ill effects on the population. Whereas the two-state solution ought to be reiterated, for the time being it is an untenable proposition. It will be a grave mistake to pursue the Annapolis track against all odds. As long as Hamas remains defiant of any peace agreement with Israel while acting as a full-fledged extremist Iranian agent, we are much closer to the establishment of two Palestinian states than to reaching a two-state solution. The precarious rule of Mahmoud Abbas, who is at pains to prosecute his Israeli counterparts for the peace negotiations as war criminals, is conducive to an inflammable fiasco. The Madrid process provides a viable, existing and proven framework that calls for historic reconciliation and compromise alongside plans and endeavors for regional cooperation in economic and practically all walks of life. For a short while, following the Madrid Conference (1991), the region was an altogether "new Middle East," filled with hope, reconciliation and cooperation. The Madrid process is essentially the balanced and enriched implementation of the Arab peace initiative. The writer is former director-general of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
2009-02-27 06:00:00
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