I regard the following as a reliable source.
On this basis I submit that the insistence by Crystal and others that "right
of return" killed a sweetheart deal for the Palestinians is so gross a
misrepresentation as to be false.
Furthermore, I submit that failure to achive a peace deal lies primarally
with Ariel Sharon. (Whether this is good or bad depends on your POV.)
Finally, I reiterate my point that under the current prevailing conditions
the cleansing the West Bank of its Palestinian population is doable and in
the best interests of Israel. This can be done in such a way that the USA
and its industrialized allies can insure their oil-supply by occupying Iraq,
and optionally Iran; therefore, while not as optimal from a US-EU standpoint
as a land-for-peace deal, ethnic cleansing is a politically-economically
acceptable (albeit morally distasteful) solution. Furthermore, ethnic
cleansing is preferable to a status-quo situation in Israel-Palestine for the
US-EU.
Since the Israeli public looked at the records of the Taba negotiations they
seem to have rejected land-for-peace as a fool's bargain. Therefore the only
remaining options are variations on status-quo and ethnic cleansing.
(Naturally, from the perspective of Palestinians and their allies ethnic
cleansing must rank as nearly the worst possible end-game for the Palestine
situation.
Oh well. Too bad for them.)
=======================
July 26, 2001, Thursday
AND YET SO FAR:
A special report.;
Quest for Mideast Peace: How and Why It Failed
By DEBORAH SONTAG: New York Times
-------------------
<snip>
At the close of July 2000, however, the Israelis felt that their generosity
had been rebuffed. And the Palestinians felt that they were being offered a
state that would not be viable -- ''less than a bantustan, for your
information,'' Mr. Arafat said in a recent interview.
''They have to control the Jordan Valley, with five early warning stations
there,'' Mr. Arafat said. ''They have to control the air above, the water
aquifers below, the sea and the borders. They have to divide the West Bank in
three cantons. They keep 10 percent of it for settlements and roads and their
forces. No sovereignty over Haram al Sharif. And refugees, we didn't have a
serious discussion about.''
Mr. Ben-Ami said he spent considerable time after Camp David trying to
explain to Israelis that the Palestinians indeed did make significant
concessions from their vantage point. ''They agreed to Israeli sovereignty
over Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, 11 of them,'' he said. ''They
agreed to the idea that three blocs of the settlements they so oppose could
remain in place and that the Western Wall and Jewish Quarter could be under
Israeli sovereignty.''
Mr. Malley added that the Palestinians had agreed to negotiate a solution to
the refugee issue that would not end up threatening Israel's Jewish majority.
''No other Arab party that has negotiated with Israel -- not Anwar el-Sadat's
Egypt, not King Hussein's Jordan, let alone Hafez al-Assad's Syria -- ever
came close to even considering such compromises,'' he said.
In the public analysis, the summit meeting fell apart in bitter disagreement
over how to share or divide Jerusalem. Mr. Clinton recently said it was the
refugee issue that did it in. But Mr. Malley and others who took part said
there were gaps on every issue.
But at the end, Mr. Clinton praised Mr. Barak's courage and vision and said
Mr. Arafat had not made an equivalent effort.
Mr. Shaath said: ''I personally pleaded with President Clinton: 'Please do
not put on a sad face and tell the world it failed. Please say we broke down
taboos, dealt with the heart of the matter and will continue.' ''
''But then the president started the blame game, and he backed Arafat into a
corner,'' he added
</snip>
<snip>
Many Israelis believe that throughout the final-status talks, the
Palestinians were inflexible in their demand that all refugees be given the
right of return to their former homes, which raises existential fears in
Israel. But Mr. Beilin, the Israeli who ran the negotiations on refugees at
Taba, said the two sides were exploring an ''agreed narrative'' that would
defuse the explosive nature of this issue and protect the Jewish identity of
Israel. They noted that about 200,000 Palestinians living in East Jerusalem
would drop off the Israeli demographic rolls, and they devised a mechanism
giving refugees more financial incentive to settle outside Israel.
Mr. Abu Ala said: ''When other issues move, this will move. It's not a deal
breaker.''
</snip>
