Fatally Flawed Peace Proposal

[Cassandra]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-avineri4jan04,1,3502506.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

"The initiators present the document as signaling an explicit Palestinian acceptance of Israel as a Jewish state. There is nothing of the sort in the document. There is a vague reference in the preamble to the Jewish right to a state, but nowhere does it say that this state will be in Israel; it could be in Uganda. Since the root cause of the conflict lies in the unwillingness of Arabs to accept Israel as a Jewish state, many Israelis feel that the initiators were far from candid.

This applies also to the issue of the right of return of 1948 Palestinian refugees and their descendants, — a cornerstone of Palestinian nationalist dogma. The initiators claim that in their document Palestinians explicitly give up the right to return to the property in Israel from which they fled or were expelled during the 1948 war. But this is not the case. It is true that in the document the right of return does not appear explicitly, but it does state that the refugee problem will be addressed according to United Nations Resolution 194. This 1948 resolution, while not mentioning a right of return specifically, does say simply and explicitly that the refugees "shall return." Every Palestinian child is taught that 194 is the international legitimization of the Palestinian right of return. Again, many Israelis felt the initiators were far from truthful.
<snip>
There are further issues that come up when reading the document: The accord envisages setting up an International Implementation and Verification Group, which would be responsible for refugee resettlement, border issues and the complex structure that would oversee a redivided Jerusalem. Not only the U.N., the United States and European Union would be part of this group, but also the Arab League. Given the wide authority granted to this international body, many Israelis feel that their country's sovereignty and independence would be seriously curtailed if not forfeited, and the country would be turned into a quasi-protectorate.

To this unease is added the fact that the Geneva document stipulates that not only would Palestinian refugees of 1948 be entitled to compensation, which seems reasonable to most Israelis, but Arab countries in the region would also receive compensation from Israel for the years they have "hosted" the refugees. Given the cynical use many Arab countries made of the Palestinian refugees in the decades of the conflict, this seems to many a bit too much — especially as it was never mentioned in the PR campaign preceding the final publication of the initiative."

Some interesting points here.

[Racenut20]

1. If all the world turned against Isreal

I think they would fight until the last dying breath to maintain the state of their boundries. Why don't the "peacemakers" understand the strength of will there.