Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Brent Scowcroft endorses two-state solution: Scowcroft's plan is a variant on the fundamentals of the two-state solution which has been available for a long time now, as far back as 1971 and Sadat's original peace offer: Withdrawal of Jewish soldiers and settlers behind the 1967 Green line; minor and mutually agreed border modifications; a practical resolution of the refugee problem.

This solution is available for adoption by the US or Israel anytime they wish, for the moment. The US evidently prefers Israel as the 'cop on the beat', the 'Israeli Sparta', the 'militarised dependency.' And Israel, it seems, lacks all sense of danger and security, and believes in the unreconstructed folly of Zionism and the hubristic madness of permanent regional hegemony. US interest in the region runs out with the oil in 30-40 years tops, maybe much sooner, especially if it suffers a defeat in Iraq. Israel's interest is to negotiate a comprehensive peace from a position of strength, and that means NOW. There will come a time (perhaps fairly soon) when the tide finally turns and the Arabs will no longer be prepared to concede as much as they might now.

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