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[New York Sun] Hillel Halkin - The Annapolis conference represents the kind of mistaken thinking that has characterized every American or international attempt to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the 1991 Madrid Conference: Namely, the belief that there is something in the world of diplomacy called "process" that has an intrinsically positive momentum of its own capable of overcoming deep disagreements on substance between two sides to a dispute. This is nonsense. There is nothing intrinsically positive about any diplomatic process. Such processes work when potential points of agreement already exist and can be focused on. When they don't exist, all the processes in the world can't conjure them up. In the case of Israel and the Palestinians, such points of agreement do not exist. Like many conflicts in history, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not come to an end by means of a negotiated settlement. A viable Jewish state and a viable Palestinian state west of the Jordan River are not both possible. The conflict will come to an end because the case for a viable Jewish state is the stronger of the two, the Jewish people having no other country. Annapolis will be quickly forgotten, even quicker than the Madrid Conference was. The dire prophecies of what will happen if it fails will not come true. The Palestinian people is not in the mood for a new intifada.
2007-11-20 01:00:00
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