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No Rushing the Peace Process

(Washington Times) Clifford D. May - Count me among those who see a "two-state solution" to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as unlikely anytime soon no matter how energetic, determined and skillful the diplomacy of the Trump administration turns out to be. The Middle East has become bloodier over recent years. Given this reality, Israeli leaders from Labor to Likud are convinced that the withdrawal of their military forces from the West Bank would leave a vacuum - and that jihadis would fill it. Consider the precedents. In 2005, every Israeli soldier and settler was pulled out of Gaza. Within two years, Hamas had taken control and begun launching missiles at Israeli villages and cities. A series of small wars followed, as has the incessant digging of terrorist tunnels into Israel. Five years earlier, the Israelis withdrew from southern Lebanon. That strengthened Hizbullah, Iran's proxy, with whom other wars had to be fought. In 1982, Israelis handed the Sinai Peninsula over to Egypt. Today, a branch of the Islamic State wages an insurgency there. The writer is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2017-03-09 00:00:00
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