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Israel's People Want Peace Too. Pressure Doesn't Help

(Guardian-UK) Daniel Taub - Polls consistently show a majority of the Israeli people want a lasting peace with the Palestinians. Yet those same polls show Israelis are also skeptical about the possibility of realizing such a peace. In part this skepticism relates to the ability of the international community to live up to its assurances. UN peacekeepers have not prevented the rearming of Hizbullah. Nor has the international community been able to stop the smuggling of weapons to Hamas in Gaza. As much as Israelis want peace, when they look at the fate of international assurances in Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere in the region, they cannot help but ask what is to stop an evacuated West Bank turning into yet another launch pad for attacks against Israel, but this time only miles from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. In a region where ungoverned spaces are increasingly dominated by brutal jihadist extremists and Iranian proxies, Israelis are perplexed that, away from our region, debate on the peace process continues as if Israelis and Palestinians exist in a vacuum. We must see the reality that exists today, not the reality of 10 years ago or of 1948. The writer is the ambassador of Israel to the United Kingdom.
2015-07-17 00:00:00
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