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Ya'alon: Land for Peace Concept Failed

[Jerusalem Post] Etgar Lefkovits - The concept of land for peace is a proven failure in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and any future withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank will create a "Hamastan" there too, former Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Moshe Ya'alon said at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem on Wednesday. He said faulty conceptions included the notions that the Palestinians wanted - or were able - to establish an independent state on the 1967 borders, that a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the creation of two states on the 1967 borders, that land for peace should be the basis for any peace agreement, that peace would bring security, and that the key to stability in the Middle East was the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ya'alon argued that the violent Palestinian rejection of the peace offer put forward to them at Camp David seven years ago, which would have awarded them with a Palestinian state on upwards of 95 percent of the West Bank, and the refusal of both Hamas and the more moderate Fatah to recognize the existence of a Jewish state, negated the very essence of Israeli and international policymaking. He said Israel must treat Hamas-run Gaza as an "enemy entity," and should "disengage" from being the provider of its water, electricity, and goods. At the same time, Israel should give the Fatah-run PA in the West Bank a chance to establish autonomy, while Israel would be in charge of security.
2007-07-05 01:00:00
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