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December 5, 2003/Kislev 10 5764, Vol. 56, No.11
Exercise in futilityEditorialThe Geneva Accord made public this week is an unacceptable "virtual" agreement not only because of the concessions made by Israeli negotiators, but also because it would be as ineffective as every other agreement signed by Palestinian negotiators under Yasser Arafat's watch.Under the plan, Israel would return to its pre-1967 borders. Those borders would be no more defensible today than they were more than 35 years ago. The accord is ambiguous about the Palestinian "right of return." For peace to exist, Palestinians would have to jettison their dream to "return" to the cities and towns within the Green Line that some of their ancestors fled from during Israel's War of Independence - two generations ago. For Israel to give up sovereignty over the Temple Mount may be worth considering, but relinquishing the right of Jews to pray there is unacceptable. Moreover, agreeing to release most of the Palestinian prisoners would be foolhardy. Can we imagine a comparable wholesale amnesty being granted to prisoners in this nation? This unofficial accord would not lead to peace. Only Palestinian internal change will lead to peace - starting at the top with Arafat's removal. When will the West, including the Bush White House, accept that Arafat is not a true peace partner? He has already condemned the accord for not explicitly including the "right of return" for millions of Palestinian refugees. Arafat wants more than just the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem; he wants all of Israel. He has calculatingly refused to prepare his people for peace with the Israelis; instead, he has prepared them for war. Schools under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction teach jihad to their children. Arafat refuses to authorize the disarmament of such terrorist groups as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Moreover, the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade - Fatah's terrorist wing under Arafat's control - has circulated flyers denouncing the accord negotiators as "collaborators." Bush should have thought twice before granting permission to Secretary of State Colin Powell and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz to meet with accord negotiators Yossi Bellin and Yasser Abed Rabbo. Such meetings give the accord legitimacy on the world stage and engender false hope for peace. A better path to peace would be to put increased pressure on the Palestinians - not the Israelis, for once - to become a true partner for peace by changing their government, society and culture from within. If and when this happens, the Israelis would respond in kind. |
