(BESA Center for Strategic Studies-Bar-Ilan Univesity) Douglas Feith - Early on I saw that Oslo was more about Israeli withdrawal than peace. In 1993, when the first Oslo agreement was published, there were a few vague words in the preamble about striving for peaceful coexistence, but in the operative sections there were no actual peace promises. The Declaration of Principles (DOP) said simply that Israel would withdraw from parts of the territories and transfer responsibilities to the Arab party. The DOP was an exchange of land for nothing. Arafat had no intention of agreeing that Israel had a right to exist permanently. He took what Israel was willing to give up, but he didn't make peace. He didn't preach peace. He didn't have Palestinian schools teach peace. He didn't enforce peace. The writer, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, served as U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy (2001-2005).
2018-09-14 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive