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Rediscovering the Nature of Palestinian Rejectionism

(Jerusalem Post) Editorial - The Obama administration has evidently failed to internalize that a succession of ever-more generous peace offers from prime ministers Rabin, Barak, Sharon and Olmert were rebuffed by a Palestinian leadership that has yet to acknowledge Israel's legitimacy, much less begin to explain to its own people the imperative for compromise. Israel's prime ministers, including Netanyahu, have made plain their desire for the creation in the West Bank and Gaza of a Palestinian society more interested in its own political and economic stability than the destruction of the Zionist entity, and for a Palestinian state established in a climate of genuine reconciliation and wider Arab normalization. Given the history of Palestinian rejection, the Israeli public is deeply skeptical about the chances of negotiations yielding the desired results. Since the Oslo Accords of 1993, 17 years of efforts under three presidents and six prime ministers have led nowhere. While Netanyahu's government is already doing more than previous governments to help PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad toward West Bank stability and institution-building, we have yet to see signs of a more profound Palestinian shift - toward true recognition of the Jewish state. That shift, so long overdue, is the key component of any viable peace effort. The sooner the U.S. utilizes its unique capacity to galvanize the necessary pressure, on the Palestinians and the wider Arab world, the better.
2010-04-02 08:19:41
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