By Vic Rosenthal
US and Israeli diplomats have suggested that the Saudi plan might be a good starting point for peace negotiations with some modifications — for example, the demand for a right of return of Palestinian refugees to Israel has to be removed.
The problem is a lot deeper than that, though. The Palestinians and other Arabs view any compromise as a defeat, and would only agree to it as a temporary tactical move. In their view, Israel is totally at fault for the history of conflict in the region, the situation of the refugees, etc. So any peace agreement has to include Israel completely undoing the ‘unnatural’ situation by giving up any territory taken from Arab hands, restoring all that they lost to the refugees, etc. Naturally, an independent state of Israel would not survive such a deal.
