Saturday, September 24, 2011

Israel and the Palestinians

Kids, it's pretty simple: Israel is going to have to remove the vast majority of settlements from the West Bank- at a minimum- though maybe give up a chunk of East Jerusalem as well. The Palestinians are going to have to agree to a limited right of return, renounce violence, disarm Hamas and recognize Israel- at a minimum.

Right now, everybody knows what needs to be done, but neither side is willing to do what needs to be done. I can't blame President Abbas for trying to break the deadlock somehow- and I think they'd be willing to meet the Israelis halfway on a lot of things, but Netanyahu-- man, that guy pissed me off, acting like Israel's the victim and expressing his sincere desire for peace. It's not exactly evident thus far, you know what I mean? Someone just needs to say what it's going to take to get it done- Arial Sharon could have done it- Yitzhak Rabin could have done it, but Netanyahu just isn't up to the task and there's no one out there who is.

(Of course, it's worth noting that Arafat got everything but the kitchen sink offered to him by Barak and walked away- the obstructionist pendulum could just as easily swing back towards Abbas and the Palestinians. But right now- all Israel. Those settlements are gonna have to go- the longer they wait, the mroe painful it's going to be.)

No comments:

Post a Comment