(Commentary) Jonathan S. Tobin - The 2002 Arab Peace Initiative flopped the first time around because it's not really a peace proposal. Conceived in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks when the Arab states, and in particular Saudi Arabia, were viewed with disgust by most Americans, the initiative was more about polishing the image of the Arab world in the U.S. than anything else. It fizzled because it was not an invitation to negotiate, but a diktat. Even worse, it contained a vital poison pill: the return of Palestinian refugees to Israel that would, in effect, mean the end of the Jewish state, not peace with it. The Arab League proposal envisions an Israel that has been forced to retreat from all territories it won in a defensive war in 1967, one that would be forced to accept millions of Arabs who would change it from a Jewish nation into yet another Arab one.
2013-05-02 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive