A Peace Plan

Amir Taheri has some good advice for President Bush (and others) regarding attempts at peacemaking between Israel and the Palestinians: don't.

THE first step toward any peacemaking (which is bound to be a very long-term process) is to deflate the issue to its real dimensions.

Any would-be mediator must begin by asserting that this is a Palestinian and Israeli problem that can only have a Palestinian and Israeli solution. The idea that Bush or anyone else can devise and impose a solution is both fanciful and dangerous.

Every peace agreement between Israel and Arabs has come without outside help. Going back to the Camp David Accords with Egypt, the two sides first met in secret, and only after coming to an agreement did they take the agreement to the US which then acted as the facilitator. All "peace processes" that have gone through other countries have all ended in failure. Until the Palestinians make a strategic decision to accept Israel and forego all violence, there will not be peace. Abbas is demonstrating by his pandering to the terrorist groups that the Palestinians have not yet reached this point. And because of the brainwashing of the current generation by Arafat, probably will not reach his point for at least another generation.