by Dror Eydar
After years at the
center of various political storms, President Shimon Peres has entered
the public's good graces and won their admiration in his role as
president. That's all fine and good, but admiration does not excuse his
colossal mistakes.
Peres entered the Prime
Minister's Office directly after Rabin's murder. Week after week he
transferred another city to the Palestinian Authority. Then our buses
started exploding. Dozens were killed in each attack. He gave them
cities and they blew things up. About a year earlier, Benny Begin
provided trustworthy information about Arafat's true intentions. Peres
dismissed him.
At Camp David, Ehud
Barak offered too much, and Arafat proceeded to rain blood and fire on
Israel. He never intended to end the conflict. Begin was right. But this
was not sufficient proof for the Oslo gang and their blind followers in
the media.
Peres joined forces
with Sharon, who caused the Likud to collapse and deceived its voters.
Together they destroyed 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four
in Samaria. They promised that Gaza would turn into a mini-Singapore.
Instead, we got a cross between Saudi Arabia and Iran and thousands of
missiles fell on our heads.
Let's review the
promises of Peres and his wise men, how they correctly predicted events
beginning with Oslo until the disengagement and how they silenced the
protesters at their gates. Nor have we mentioned the far-sighted
opposition to bombing the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 ...
So Peres "knows Abu
Mazen" and "is aware of reality." And Abu Mazen for his part realizes a
compromise must be reached on the Right of Return and that he will "not
return to Safed."
Here's a reality check:
Two days after being interviewed on Channel 2, Abu Mazen was quick to
declare, in the Palestinian Authority's newspaper "Al-Hayat al-Jadida"
that his position on Safed was personal, and that he has no intention of
giving up on the Right of Return. "No one can give up on the Right of
Return," he said. Peres was also aware that Olmert had made reckless
offers to Abbas and that Abbas' response was to run away.
Tzipi Livni was quick
to declare that Peres has "told the public the truth." The truth is that
20 years is long enough to realize that no Palestinian leader has a
mandate to sign on a conclusive end to the conflict. You have to be
familiar with Palestinian culture — even within Fatah — to understand
that they have no intention of coming to terms with our existence. These
matters are explained at length on Itamar Marcus' Palestinian Media
Watch website. I highly recommend that Peres' advisers peruse the site.
In the same newspaper, Abbas'
spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina said that "a television interview is not
the same as negotiations, and the purpose of the interview for Israeli
television was to influence Israeli public opinion." Just like Peres'
words on Sunday, three weeks before elections. As if 20 years hadn't
passed, he still believes in a New Middle East. It's only the rest of us
who have forgotten.
Dror Eydar
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=3148
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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