Daily Alert Archives

Road Map to Trouble

(ADL/New York Sun) - Abraham H. Foxman During these difficult two and a half years of Palestinian terrorism against the people of Israel and one-sided condemnation of Israel in the international community, the U.S. Congress has strongly stood with Israel, most noticeably in two resolutions, passed overwhelmingly, declaring Israel's right to self-defense in the face of suicide attacks on its citizens. The White House continues to say that the impressive vision laid out by President Bush on June 24, 2002, is American policy. Still, there are real concerns about the contents and concepts of the Quartet's road map. Israel is the problem, according to the road map's logic. Unlike the Bush vision, the road map sees the Quartet, not the parties themselves, as the ultimate decision-makers, something that Israel has long rejected and that the Palestinians have long desired. The road map demonstrates the long-recognized danger of the international community becoming the focal point of Middle East diplomacy. The president early on expressed recognition that Palestinian suffering, which needs amelioration, is not the product of Israeli occupation but of the betrayal of the Palestinian people by their leadership. The Palestinians could have had a state in 1948 when there were no refugees; they could have had a state in 1967 when there were no settlements; they could have had a state in 2000 when there was no intifada. In all these critical instances, Palestinian leadership has been more interested in destroying the Jewish state than in building a Palestinian state. Israel's responsibility to respond to a peace initiative, which is necessary and real, can only come after the Palestinians demonstrate they have finally changed, through new leaders and reformed institutions and through the cessation of terrorism.
2003-04-25 00:00:00
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