[Ha'aretz] Ari Shavit - The lesson of Oslo, Camp David and Annapolis is clear-cut: Even the most moderate Palestinian leadership is not prepared to accept Israel's most far-reaching peace proposal. In 16 years of a painstaking and exhausting peace process, the Palestinians never agreed to a single concession on a core issue. Their refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, to agree to demilitarize a Palestinian state, or to give up their demand for the return of refugees to Israel has blocked peace in the past, is blocking peace in the present, and will continue doing so for the foreseeable future. As of now, there is no genuine Palestinian partner for the partition of the country. The lesson the incumbent president should learn from these resounding flops is there's no room for revolutions in the Middle East. This region must be given evolutionary, and not revolutionary, treatment - a long and thorough chipping away that will gradually change Palestinian society.
2009-09-24 08:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive