Time to move forward
I believe Henry Kissinger once said that the result of a successful bargaining agreement was two dissatisfied parties. In order for the peace talks to go forward each side must understand that it cannot have all of its wishes fulfilled. The Palestinians will have to give up lands that are now occupied by the settlers for land in the Negev; and the Israelis will have to allow east Jerusalem to be the capital of the Palestinian state.
Long ago the Palestinians recognized Israel as a state in the Oslo Accords and the further agreements between the parties. Only in the last few years under Netanyahu has Israel insisted that the PA recognize Israel as a “Jewish State.” The Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel does not call for a “Jewish State.” In Israel there is much disagreement over what is a Jewish state. The Orthodox and the kibbutzniks have totally different
views as to that meaning. Certainly, the 20 percent of the population of Israel who are Muslim Arabs do not wish to continue the discrimination against their population. There are 300,000 Russian immigrants who are not Jewish by any definition, nor are the Druze or Christian Arabs.
It would seem that the parties have been negotiating long enough for each side to accept their dissatisfied positions and to go forward to
an honorable agreement.
Larry Lerner
Warren
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