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Misreading the Middle East

(New York Post) Amir Taheri - Kerry should have read the notes left by another Democratic ex-senator, George Mitchell, who was dispatched by President Obama early in his first term with the mission to create a Palestinian state within a year. Mitchell quickly found that a peace settlement was not a priority for either protagonist. He also knew that, in his final months in office, President Bill Clinton had brokered the best deal imaginable within reason but failed to persuade Yasser Arafat to accept it. The Mitchell mission failed because there was no active and urgent demand for peace. Today, a status quo has been established and both sides are comfortable with it. This doesn't mean that Palestinians and Israelis don't want peace. They do, albeit with different definitions of "peace." However, weighing the risks of a "golden" unknown against the certainties of the status quo, most Palestinians and Israelis tend to prefer the latter.
2013-07-23 00:00:00
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