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Why the Bush Vision of Peace Is Still Somewhere Over the Rainbow

[Jerusalem Post] Calev Ben-David - Bush has talked plenty about "vision" during this visit, dubbing direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over a final-status settlement as the "vision track." U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley was more specific, saying: "When the people of Gaza are presented with this vision, they can make a choice and invite the Palestinian Authority back in to administer Gaza." Really? Entranced by a final-status agreement that involves painful concessions, the people of Gaza somehow "invite" Fatah back, and Hamas and its radical Islamic allies simply lay down their arms and pass on power peacefully to Mahmoud Abbas? Unfortunately, the problem with those Palestinians who oppose a two-state solution isn't that they lack a vision of a Palestinian state - it's that they lack a vision for a Jewish state existing alongside it. This isn't to say that having a vision of peace isn't a good or necessary thing. But it is naive, or disingenuous, to think it can be implemented, or can even move the process of implementation forward, without first changing some of the current harsh realities on the ground.
2008-01-11 01:00:00
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