This is one of the most important and relevant short pieces that I’ve read in years. If you still think in your heart that peace can result if we just work out the necessary details and compromises, you must read this.
Read No Peace, No Peace plans, No price for Peace here.
This was an interesting article, but I’m not sure I concur with much of it. Professor Sharon generalizes too much. It’s the ‘Arabs’ this and that. I don’t believe anymore that it’s the ‘Arabs’ that seek to annihilate Israel–Egypt and Jordan are counter examples–and I don’t believe that Israel doesn’t understand how the ‘bazaar’ works. Jews have lived in the MidEast too long not to understand how to negotiate with its neighbors in what Sharon calls the ‘oriental bazaar’.
Simultaneous with the strife in Gaza and in Iraq, I believe we may be seeing Saudi Arabia and some of the Emerate states backing off (for their own reasons) from a united vision against Israel as well. The Shiite/Sunni split is becoming more perilous and more threatening to states in the region and internal strife is too threatening.
So I believe that professor Sharon’s sweep is too broad.
In reality the Arab states don’t get along with each other
Egypt’s ‘peace’ is not much more than a cease-fire, supported by US dollars, which can end in a moment. The antisemitic Egyptian media continues to call for Israel’s destruction. It’s certainly true that the Arabs don’t get along — but that doesn’t imply that any of them are interested in any more than a temporary truce with Israel.
I would like to believe that Israel knows how to deal with her neighbors. But look at the recent one-sided concessions to Mahmoud Abbas…what has Israel gotten in return?