|
Trending Topics
|
Source: http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/2597.htm
"A Shot at Peace"
(New York Post) - Daniel Pipes In private conversations with Bush administration officials this past week, I was favorably impressed by their realism about the U.S.-sponsored "road map." The senior officials I spoke with offered impressively hard-headed analyses: On Palestinian intentions to destroy Israel, they echo Secretary of State Powell's statement that he worries about "terrorist organizations that have not given up the quest to destroy the State of Israel." On the need to enforce signed agreements, officials insist that the road-map diplomacy would screech to a halt if the Palestinians fail to keep their word. Israel would not be expected to fulfill its promises if the Palestinians betrayed theirs. As one official puts it, "We have a shot at peace." He showed a reassuring awareness that this project is chancy and that the odds of its succeeding are not that good. The goal, everyone needs firmly to keep in mind, is not the signing of more agreements, but (short-term) the ending of terrorism and (long-term) the Palestinian acceptance of Israel as a sovereign Jewish state.