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The U.S. Peace Plan Puts Peace before Giving Up Land

(Medialine) Interview with Michael Oren - Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren said: "One of the biggest differences [in the new U.S. peace plan] is [that] President Trump lifted the formula of territories for peace on its head. If in the past Israel was expected to give territory first and then get peace, now Israel gets peace first and then gives up the territory. Here's the difference: The burden of proof of peacefulness falls on the Palestinians. They have to stop educating their children to kill Israeli youth....They have to accept Israel as a legitimate, permanent state. The burden is there and Palestinian statehood is predicated and conditioned on that." "This is the first agreement that we have seen now in almost 30 years of peacemaking that actually reflects realities on the ground and it is not an expression of a wish....In a real world, Jerusalem is not going to be re-divided. In a real world, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of Israeli citizens are not going to be uprooted from their homes. Whereas previous peace agreements assumed the notion of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines - that would involve uprooting thousands and thousands of Israelis and would have given security control to the Palestinians. And that state would have fallen apart in days, if not hours."
2020-01-31 00:00:00
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