Daily Alert Archives

Virtual Understandings

(Ha'aretz) Meron Benvenisti - In that pretentious document known as the "Geneva Understandings," "Article 6 - Jerusalem" includes inaccuracies and ignorance bordering on the ridiculous. Why does "withdrawal to June 4" grant the Palestinians Jaffa Gate, when it was in no-man's land until then? Were the residents of East Jerusalem asked if they favor being stripped of their Israeli residency and the accompanying rights? The opening of the document is a wonderful text encompassing all the ideals of Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation. But the initiator of the "understandings," Yossi Beilin, has been imprisoned for years in the concept of a "permanent agreement," insisting on proving that he has the power to draft a text that will formulate a model for an end to the conflict and deal with every aspect of the lethal confrontation. Therefore, he enlists the help of experts to provide him with "solutions." It's a pretension bordering on conceit. A permanent agreement and conciliation are ideals and the way to them is paved with a series of interim agreements, tested in the implementation, not in the brilliance of their language.
2003-10-23 00:00:00
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