Pertinent analysis, wishful conclusion

Submitted by Victor Tordjman (United States), May 7, 2002 at 01:27

Dear Daniel Pipes,
While I understand your wish and need to kindle hope in your readers' hearts, and while I approve of every word written up to :
... "I predict," I respectfully doubt your conclusion, this time around. You wrote [and I have added my emphasis in caps]:
" I predict that this round of the Palestinian war on Israel, ... will collapse fairly soon ... I also predict that the Palestinians will at that time find themselves adrift, with a strategy proven wrong, an economy near collapse and a sundered leadership.
" Ironically, this time of darkness and misery, IF UNDERSTOOD properly [my emphasis added] by a NEW Palestinian leadership [my emphasis added] and HANDLED CORRECTLY BY THE OUTSIDE WORLD [my emphasis added], could have very positive implications.
" Ultimately, only Palestinian acceptance of the existence of Israel will resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. This means that IF THE PALESTINIANS CAN LEARN the right lesson [my emphasis added] from their failure, they will give up on their ... dream of eliminating Israel ...
" IF THEY DO , then this terrible moment will one day be seen as having within it the seeds of a better future."

That makes for a lot of "IFS." You , more than anyone else , know at heart how unlikely it is that these "IFS" could disappear suddenly. No way ! Not with an Arab Jew-hatred whipped up for at least 35 years (during Arafat's reign) and running at an all-time
high. And as for the outside world's "handling," we've seen the results so far !

Sorry, dear Daniel, but the prediction stuff, ever since the Destruction of the Second Temple, - so it is said- has been left to you- know-who !

Victor Tordjman, Herzlia (Israel)

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".