Can a State Be Built on a Pack of Lies?
-Alan M. Dershowitz [pictured above with ball]
The people of Gaza really believe that the Holocaust never occurred. They really believe that firing rockets at school children is God's command. They really believe that Jews are a combination of the devil, monkeys, pigs and vermin.
It is difficult to build an enduring peace on such a structure of lies. That is why the Oslo Accords insisted that the Palestinians stop teaching their children to hate, stop teaching their teachers to lie and stop inciting violence against the Jews. In this respect, the Palestinian leadership, both in Gaza and the West Bank, has been an utter failure. Not much can be expected from the Hamas leadership, but even the Palestinian Authority has failed miserably in this regard.
Israel, on the other hand, has a free and open press in which the Palestinian narrative is presented honestly and fully - indeed sometimes more favorably to the Palestinians than is warranted by the facts. It should come as no surprise therefore that far more Israelis than Palestinians favor a compromise peace.
The two-state solution cannot be built on lies.
(Hudson Institute New York)
Basic Assumptions on the Peace Process Revisited -Ron Tira
The peace process represents a legitimate strategic move, but the complement to its risks should have been the strengthening of the IDF.
Israel's military power was what created the context and motivation of leaders like President Sadat to abandon the path of war in the first place. However, Israel's leadership believed that the peace process represented a substitute for military power, and did not understand that military power was the foundation of peace.
Israel sought to cash in on the peace dividend several decades too early.
The writer is formerly the head of a unit in Israel Air Force Intelligence.
(Strategic Assessment-Institute for National Security Studies-Tel Aviv University)
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