To: Faqi

Submitted by Blackspeare (United States), Mar 28, 2006 at 23:11

If the following quote by Olmert is accurate...

"He told the Palestinian leadership: "We are ready to compromise, to give up parts of the beloved Land of Israel... and evacuate, under great pain, Jews living there, in order to create the conditions that will enable you to fulfill your dream and live alongside us."

...then it is a mistake. Offering to compromise before any negotiations will demonstate to the Palestinians a weakness. Barak tried that and essentially Arafat said thanks, but no thanks. He knew what was offered would always be on the table so he might as well wait for another offer and he unleashed the intifata. With Olmert's offer, Hamas will say, "So what's the compromise?" Whatever it is, it won't be accepted, but the Palestinians know it remains on the table and they'll wait and wait. Remember, over the course of Israeli-Palestinian "negotiations" the Palestinian Administration has never fulfilled a compromise----they never had to----they have nothing to lose!!

Israel's pursuit of a garrison state and unilateral creation of final borders could, in the end, be a fait accomplii.

---

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".