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Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1115760.html
The Stumbling Block of the Arab Initiative
[Ha'aretz] In the wake of a Sep. 12 op-ed in the New York Times by Prince Turki al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia, it seems possible to better understand the Arab League's peace initiative, since the prince is in great part the moving spirit behind the Arab initiative. The Arab initiative does not speak of negotiations. It demands that Israel first withdraw from all the territories (including east Jerusalem) - involving the evacuation of more than a quarter million Israelis - and only then will negotiations on the normalization of relations and on the refugees begin. This is truly not a serious proposal. It does not matter how peace-hungry Israelis interpret the Arab initiative. We have been given an authorized interpretation by one of the people behind it. The initiative should not be ignored, because it includes an Arab declaration of willingness for peace, but its meaning should not be mistaken. At this stage it is not calling for negotiations, but rather unconditional acceptance of the Arab position, and that is also its main stumbling block. The writer is former director-general of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.