Israel Matzav: Shelley Berkley: Don't ignore what the 'Palestinians' say

Shelley Berkley: Don't ignore what the 'Palestinians' say

The weekend JPost included an interview with Representative Shelley Berkley (D-Nev) who was visiting here last week with a Democratic congressional delegation. I've said before that I believe that Berkley is a straight shooter. I want to highlight three things she said in the interview. None of them should be earth-shattering to a supporter of Israel, but to hear them said by someone who claims to be a supporter of President Obama indicates that he's not going to have as easy a time as he might think in trying to impose a 'peace plan' on us.

Thing 1 (Can you tell I've read Dr. Seuss):

"I am quite disappointed in Abu Mazen, I always have been," said Berkley, a day before meeting him. "I think he has it within his power to bring a peaceful resolution to this issue, to create a state for the Palestinian people, to move forward to a brighter future for Palestinian children.

"And yet, year after year we seem to be stuck in the same situation, and I think he has done very little over the years in preparing his own people for peace," she said, pointing to this week's Fatah conference in Bethlehem as an example.

"Are we still hurling accusations against the Israelis that they are somehow responsible for the death of Yasser Arafat?" she asked. "Isn't that somewhat counterproductive to moving forward toward peace?"

Berkley said she raised this issue in a meeting her delegation had with US Gen. Keith Dayton, who advised the group not to pay too much attention to what was being said at Fatah's "political convention." Berkley told Dayton she remembered the heady days of the Oslo Accords, when Arafat would say what the US and Europeans wanted to hear in English, but then repeated "the usual anti-Israel, anti-Semitic rants to his own people."

Back then, she said, "administration and State Department officials said the exact same thing: Don't pay any attention to what Arafat is saying; we know what he has to say in order to survive; we know what he really feels. But we didn't, we really miscalculated that. I think words are very powerful; they have meaning."

Asked what Dayton's reply was, she let out a belly laugh and replied, "He said that was a good question."

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Israel Matzav: Shelley Berkley: Don't ignore what the 'Palestinians' say