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Wednesday, November 28, 2007
‘Doomed to failure’?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tens of thousands of protesters in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip filled Gaza City Tuesday chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” So much for the facts on the ground in at least one part of the Middle East in response to the Mideast peace conference at Annapolis. Protesters called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a “collaborator” for participating. The top leader of the Hamas government in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, insisted the summit is “doomed to failure.”
That certainly is the history of Mideast peace negotiations. Until the 16 Arab countries represented at the one-day conference acknowledge and commit to Israel’s right to exist, no real peace is possible. It’s pretty clear that the masses don’t. And just as leaders of most of the Mideast powers represented at Annapolis are not keen on the idea of a functioning democracy in Iraq, they’re served by having Israel as the region’s whipping boy to draw off the attention and wrath of the extremists in their midsts.
“Doomed to failure” may be too fatalistic. But that assessment will change when the states represented at Annapolis acknowledge Israel’s right to exist and when they stop pursuing another strategy aimed at eliminating the Jewish state — and that is insisting that Palestinian refugees be allowed to settle in Israel.
Anybody see a solution?
