Killing the Peace in the Name of Peace |
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By Alon Ben-Meir, Huffington Post 6.6.11 EXCERPT Achieving a peace settlement will not require Israel to be "generous." It will require good-faith negotiations to achieve an agreement that both sides can accept. Furthermore, if the 1967 lines are "indefensible," what is defensible? Netanyahu does not say. However, this statement follows the manufactured controversy that Netanyahu himself stoked over President Obama's statement that an agreement will require a "mutually agreed land swap" along the 1967 lines. Of course, this is the same formula that was used in the Clinton Parameters, Geneva Accord, Ayalon/Nusseibeh plan, and the Olmert-Abbas talks. Instead of returning to that basis -- the only basis upon which a sustainable peace could ever be achieved -- Netanyahu has done all he can to delay having to make any real decisions. Furthermore, the truth is that Israel's incorporation of settlements far into the West Bank -- such as Ariel -- will leave these Israeli communities truly "indefensible," as they will be surrounded on three sides. In this respect, anything that Israel will maintain beyond the major settlement blocs will serve as security liabilities, not assets.
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