Monday, December 20, 2004

Sharon will maintain roadblocks to peace: "Since the 1980s, Palestinian leaders, including Arafat, have sought only the rump 22 percent of Palestine occupied by Israel in 1967 (the West Bank, Gaza, and Arab East Jerusalem). Under the 1993 Oslo Accords Palestinians recognized Israel in 78 percent of the historical Palestinian homeland and, along with the international community, naively assumed Israel would return all of the lands occupied in 1967."

Uri Avnery argues that Arafat effectively adopted this position following the 73 war, but it seems to have taken a while for it to be formally stated and adopted. The remarkable story of Palestine is that an internationally agreed political settlement has been available for at least 30 years, but it has been deliberately avoided by an endless series of crimes, evasions and breaches of international law on the part of the US and Israel, combined with a truly monumental barrage of propaganda to try and make the issue appear other than what it is.

No comments: