http://www.nationalpost.com/world/story.html?id=41FF79AA-B42B-4872-9313-A35E42F5BEFE
Both the nuts in Isreal & Palestine hate the new agreement. It must be pretty good, in that case.
The agreement is a stunt. An unelected Israeli giving away the temple mount and splitting Jerusalem? An unelected Palestinian giving up the right of return? This agreement has about as much weight as if the two of us worked out an accord for the two groups. (And I say this as someone who thinks the terms of the agreement are pretty reasonable).
Gav
If there is ever Peace in the Middle East, Armageddon is nigh!
In high school Model United Nations, I earned a little gavel for successfully brokering an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord using my auspices as the U.S. delegate.
I will now mail my gavel to the Geneva team, because that’s about how much their peace accord is worth.
I dunno. It seems like this plan is getting more and more attention all the time. And didn’t I read somewhere yesterday that Powell was going to meet with some of its architects?
How much attention do you think suicide-minded bomber wannabe’s will give it?
Hey, I wish them all the luck in the world. Powell is indeed meeting with them…but that’s just to help prod the Israelis back to the table.
It’s a no-loser for the U.S. – we get to polish up our peace-process credentials by giving Geneva its due attention, while using the whole farce as an opportunity to poke Sharon back toward real/actual negotiations.
Regardless, the scheme comes from negotiators with no mandate to pursue negotiations. (Actually, one could argue that they have the opposite of a mandate – both of the chief negotiators were voted out of office in the last round of elections on either side of the divide.)
No mandate or not, this is exactly what any sort of agreement that ends it all will need to look like. Here’s hoping Sharon & Arafat get run out on a rail.
Ooh, check this out:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/364218.html
Slight majorities in favor on both sides!
But the poll left out the bit about ceding the temple mount to the Palestinians. You can bet that would’ve dropped a few points off the Israeli side. (according to the article you linked).
Also, you’d need to have a referendum on both sides, given the sweeping concessions they’re talking about–probably needing a super-majority. Israelis aren’t going to trust a peace deal where only 51% of Palestinians sign on, and I’m sure the reverse is true as well.
I like the agreement, but I still think it’s a stunt.
Gav
Stunt or not, it shows that an agreement can be achieved. This is the most important thing about it.