At this rate, the ?road map? is leading to anything but peace.
The Palestinians have already violated two of yours truly?s rules for success. First, they persist on treating all provisions of the ?road map? as if they are set in stone, not subject to change if necessary.
Far worse, they are pressuring Israel to release at least 5,000 prisoners after Israel announced it will release 300 prisoners. Meanwhile, the Bush administration has been trying to coax Israel into halting installation of a security fence, pulling back more forces in the West Bank and dismantling ? or, at least freezing ? settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, according to The New York Times.
That violates a second rule: Don?t rush into anything. Talk things over; justify all demands and pursue a reasonable way to work things out. Just a week after their so-called cease-fire, terrorist leaders were threatening violence once again if the 5,000 or more prisoners are not released.
They don?t say what will happen if they are let go. If the released prisoners don?t want to abide by the cease-fire, they?ll kill Israelis, anyway. If something goes wrong with the ?road map? at a later date, they?ll go on a rampage at that time. In any event, they?ll be loose to do their damage once again.
This is a deal-breaker. Nobody in their right mind will do business with people who threaten to get what they want. They only believe in winning by intimidation. I personally don?t deal with people like that.
Does Israel even need to negotiate with the Palestinians? In following this conflict for nearly three years, I concluded that Israel does not need to negotiate. It would be nice, but Israel can survive just fine without them.
What Israel can do is just act unilaterally. It can devise plans for a holding action designed to protect its citizens and minimize loss of life on both sides and ignore anything that the Palestinians request or demand.
If the Palestinians reach a point once again at which they want to engage in good-faith negotiations, that would be fine. They?ll only encounter the same problem again. Those Palestinians who are pragmatic enough to work with Israel will likely face strong resistance once again from their extremist elements. Which is part of the real shame of this situation. I don?t doubt that a substantial number of Arabs in the territories are willing to live in peace with Israel, though those numbers are impossible to quantify. Unfortunately, they are intimidated by extremists into silence.
In fact, I trust Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas as being sincere in trying to build a workable system with Israel, but he won?t get anywhere so long as the extremists undermine his efforts. After all, Israel decided to release the 300 prisoners to strengthen Abbas? hand, and the rest is history. If Abbas is powerless, so is Israel. This means that the Israelis are only wasting their time. No matter how reasonable that Abbas and other Palestinians may be, the Palestinians clearly need to form a consensus before they can possibly participate in good-faith talks with Israel.
How can Israel possibly control that?
--------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Ticker is a freelance writer and former journalist living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He can be reached at brucetic@aol.com.
The Palestinians have already violated two of yours truly?s rules for success. First, they persist on treating all provisions of the ?road map? as if they are set in stone, not subject to change if necessary.
Far worse, they are pressuring Israel to release at least 5,000 prisoners after Israel announced it will release 300 prisoners. Meanwhile, the Bush administration has been trying to coax Israel into halting installation of a security fence, pulling back more forces in the West Bank and dismantling ? or, at least freezing ? settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, according to The New York Times.
That violates a second rule: Don?t rush into anything. Talk things over; justify all demands and pursue a reasonable way to work things out. Just a week after their so-called cease-fire, terrorist leaders were threatening violence once again if the 5,000 or more prisoners are not released.
They don?t say what will happen if they are let go. If the released prisoners don?t want to abide by the cease-fire, they?ll kill Israelis, anyway. If something goes wrong with the ?road map? at a later date, they?ll go on a rampage at that time. In any event, they?ll be loose to do their damage once again.
This is a deal-breaker. Nobody in their right mind will do business with people who threaten to get what they want. They only believe in winning by intimidation. I personally don?t deal with people like that.
Does Israel even need to negotiate with the Palestinians? In following this conflict for nearly three years, I concluded that Israel does not need to negotiate. It would be nice, but Israel can survive just fine without them.
What Israel can do is just act unilaterally. It can devise plans for a holding action designed to protect its citizens and minimize loss of life on both sides and ignore anything that the Palestinians request or demand.
If the Palestinians reach a point once again at which they want to engage in good-faith negotiations, that would be fine. They?ll only encounter the same problem again. Those Palestinians who are pragmatic enough to work with Israel will likely face strong resistance once again from their extremist elements. Which is part of the real shame of this situation. I don?t doubt that a substantial number of Arabs in the territories are willing to live in peace with Israel, though those numbers are impossible to quantify. Unfortunately, they are intimidated by extremists into silence.
In fact, I trust Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas as being sincere in trying to build a workable system with Israel, but he won?t get anywhere so long as the extremists undermine his efforts. After all, Israel decided to release the 300 prisoners to strengthen Abbas? hand, and the rest is history. If Abbas is powerless, so is Israel. This means that the Israelis are only wasting their time. No matter how reasonable that Abbas and other Palestinians may be, the Palestinians clearly need to form a consensus before they can possibly participate in good-faith talks with Israel.
How can Israel possibly control that?
--------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Ticker is a freelance writer and former journalist living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He can be reached at brucetic@aol.com.