Nationally-syndicated Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer had some harsh words for President Bush and the Road Map plan in his June 6th column. The column
can be read here.
Excerpts:
...Let's be plain about what happened at [the Bush-Arab summit last week at] Sharm el-Sheik. The president of the United States put his prestige on the line for the sake of Arab-Israeli peace and the Arab states gave him nothing. They refused to endorse Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. They spoke of their opposition to "terrorism," even as they repeatedly present their own publics with the most elaborate intellectual and religious justifications of why the killing of Jews in "Palestine" is "resistance" and not terrorism...
What did Bush do? What American presidents always do in response to such rebuffs: smile politely and say thank you.
Then on to the second summit at Aqaba. Here, Bush managed to extract enormous concessions from Israel... What did Bush get out of Abbas? Did Abbas recognize Israel as a Jewish state? No. He refused to give up the Palestinian principle of "return," which means eradicating Israel by flooding it with millions of Palestinian refugees... [Abbas offered an] end to terrorism. Fine. But until the lip service is carried out, this is nothing but a restatement of the famous letter from Arafat to Rabin--September 1993--in which [Arafat] pledged that "the PLO renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence."
At Aqaba, Abbas recognized Israel. So did Arafat pretend to 10 years ago in the very first line of the Oslo agreement.
Abbas pledged there will be no more incitement of hatred against Israel -- another repetition of another Oslo pledge. The Palestinians then spent the next decade poisoning their children with the worst anti-Semitic propaganda since the Third Reich.
What then happened at Aqaba? Israel bought the same rug a second time. In 1993, it bought supposed recognition, a supposed end to violence, and a supposed end to incitement... In 2003, the rug was sold again, this time fetching Israeli acceptance of a Palestinian state with contiguous borders in which Israeli settlements are uprooted. This might be the outline of the final settlement. But these were concessions given away before the negotiations even began.
The unilateral surrender of Israel continues.
...There is only one hope that we will not repeat that doleful experiment. And that is if Bush is serious--as Clinton was not--about requiring more than just words from the Palestinians. Abbas must end the incitement, stop the violence and disarm the terrorists. Bush, having taken his friend Sharon to the cleaners, needs now to make sure that Abbas keeps his word.
can be read here.
Excerpts:
...Let's be plain about what happened at [the Bush-Arab summit last week at] Sharm el-Sheik. The president of the United States put his prestige on the line for the sake of Arab-Israeli peace and the Arab states gave him nothing. They refused to endorse Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. They spoke of their opposition to "terrorism," even as they repeatedly present their own publics with the most elaborate intellectual and religious justifications of why the killing of Jews in "Palestine" is "resistance" and not terrorism...
What did Bush do? What American presidents always do in response to such rebuffs: smile politely and say thank you.
Then on to the second summit at Aqaba. Here, Bush managed to extract enormous concessions from Israel... What did Bush get out of Abbas? Did Abbas recognize Israel as a Jewish state? No. He refused to give up the Palestinian principle of "return," which means eradicating Israel by flooding it with millions of Palestinian refugees... [Abbas offered an] end to terrorism. Fine. But until the lip service is carried out, this is nothing but a restatement of the famous letter from Arafat to Rabin--September 1993--in which [Arafat] pledged that "the PLO renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence."
At Aqaba, Abbas recognized Israel. So did Arafat pretend to 10 years ago in the very first line of the Oslo agreement.
Abbas pledged there will be no more incitement of hatred against Israel -- another repetition of another Oslo pledge. The Palestinians then spent the next decade poisoning their children with the worst anti-Semitic propaganda since the Third Reich.
What then happened at Aqaba? Israel bought the same rug a second time. In 1993, it bought supposed recognition, a supposed end to violence, and a supposed end to incitement... In 2003, the rug was sold again, this time fetching Israeli acceptance of a Palestinian state with contiguous borders in which Israeli settlements are uprooted. This might be the outline of the final settlement. But these were concessions given away before the negotiations even began.
The unilateral surrender of Israel continues.
...There is only one hope that we will not repeat that doleful experiment. And that is if Bush is serious--as Clinton was not--about requiring more than just words from the Palestinians. Abbas must end the incitement, stop the violence and disarm the terrorists. Bush, having taken his friend Sharon to the cleaners, needs now to make sure that Abbas keeps his word.