Those who cannot remember the past are condemned, it seems, to direct the Middle East policy of the Obama administration.
Since the Oslo Accords of 1993, 17 years of efforts under three American presidents and six Israeli prime ministers have taught five clear lessons. Each of them is being ignored by President Obama, which is why his own particular “peace process” has so greatly harmed real efforts at peace. Today the only factor uniting Palestinian, Israeli, and Arab leaders is distrust of the quality, sagacity, and reliability of American leadership in the region.
What are the lessons the Obama team is ignoring?
1. Israel’s flexibility is dependent on its sense of security.
2. The failure to set standards for Palestinian conduct hurts the cause of peace.
3. Israeli withdrawals do not lead to peace unless law and order can be maintained by responsible security forces.
4. The Israeli-Palestinian dispute is not the center of world, Arab, or Muslim politics.
5. The ‘peace process’ retards peace.
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