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Bernard Lewis: Palestinians Offered a State Many Times

(Jerusalem Post) Fiamma Nirenstein - In an interview this month during a visit to Israel, Middle East expert and Princeton scholar Bernard Lewis said: I don't think that there's a need anymore for other wars. If the opposition isn't blocked, Iran is poised for a democratic revolution. As for the other countries involved in funding terrorism, I can imagine the collapse of corrupt minority regimes in crisis, ones which persecute and impoverish their citizens. Islam, which has been weak for two centuries, has always sought backing to help it fight the enemy - Western democracy. First it supported the Axis against the Allies, then the communists against the U.S. Today it is seeking the protection of Europe against the U.S., which it sees as its principal enemy. Everyone knows what's happening in The Hague is not a legal question, but rather a political one. Even if the fence were built on the "green line," it wouldn't make any difference. The Palestinians have been offered borders in which to establish their state many times: In 1936 by the Peel Commission, by the UN itself in 1947, then in many Israeli offers, the most recent one at Camp David in 2000. History teaches us that Palestinian policy is informed by an implicit refusal to accept the State of Israel.
2004-03-12 00:00:00
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