Tom provided a link to:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/04.17F.BW.Dummies.htm It is very much consonant with my own thoughts on the matter Interestingly, we may be loosing perspective. It is easy for us to forget just how difficult things have been in the past. The following paragraph is actually documentation of progress: <<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Both sides also know roughly what the final solution will look like: something like the Saudi proposal, with Israel being recognized as a legitimate state with normalized relations with its Arab neighbors; Israel pulling out of the Occupied Territories, including abandoning its settlements; a viable Palestine state being created out of the contiguous territory in the West Bank and Gaza (and perhaps even part of Jordan); a shared Jerusalem, presided over by an international body; perhaps international peacekeepers in between the two equal states; Israel permitting a certain limited number of Palestinians to return to their ancestral homes and farms inside Israel and paying reparations to others not permitted to return, etc. But knowing what the ultimate solution will look like and being able to get there are two very different things. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> When Israel invaded Lebanon, or in 1985 or in the first intifada were the outlines of a final peace deal nearly so clear? Even during Netanyahu's government Bibi could hope that a two-state solution could be avoided and further peace talks stalled. Sharon evidently still hopes that peace talks can be indefinately stalled, but he will buy a couple of decades at most. Weiner's last-move scenario is very close to what the Baruch government put on the table at Taba. Like it or not, that will be the working framework for the two-state negotiations. The Taba offer is 90 or 95 percent of a deal. * * * Of course in computer programming the last annoying 10% of the requirements take 50% of total project resources.
