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Kerry Betting on the Wrong Horses

(Gatestone Institute) Khaled Abu Toameh - The Arab League dispatched a high-level delegation to Washington to brief the U.S. Administration on the Arab position regarding the resumption of peace talks with Israel. Headed by Qatar's Hamad bin Jasim al-Thani, the delegation that met with Secretary of State John Kerry also included PA Foreign Minister Riyad Malki. Following the meeting, the Palestinian Authority said it was not prepared to talk about any territorial concessions to Israel before the Israeli government accepts the pre-1967 lines. Even worse, the Arab League proposal, which mentioned "land swaps," is being viewed by many Arabs and Palestinians as part of an "American-Zionist conspiracy" to force the Palestinians to accept Israeli "dictates." For Kerry, who is trying to resume the peace process, this is all bad news. It is bad news that the PA still does not have the courage to tell the Palestinians that without some form of compromise there will never be real peace with Israel. It has also become clear that the Arab countries, including the wealthiest and most influential, have no influence on the Palestinians. The U.S. needs to understand that the Arab League is an incompetent and ineffectual body that has long been ridiculed by most Arabs. It has never played an instrumental role in solving Arab crises such as the Lebanese Civil War, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, or the ongoing bloodshed in Syria. Neither the Arab League nor the PA leadership have a mandate to offer any concessions to Israel or recognize its right to exist.
2013-05-09 00:00:00
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