Saturday, May 31, 2003

What to change this time
Zeev Schiff discusses the failure of Oslo and warns that the lessons must be learnt if the Road Map is to succeed.

The failure of the Oslo agreements stems primarily from the flawed implementation and not from the inherent desire to
reach an agreement between the two peoples. These flaws, which cropped up quickly along the way and were based on lies and covering up for these lies, led to the armed confrontation that began in September, 2000.

I am yet to be convinced of the Palestinians' goodwill, but this is certainly part of the picture.

The Americans usually ignored the lies because for them the main thing was rapid progress, which was subsequently revealed to be a journey on shifting sands. If the system of lies and whitewashing
continues after the "road map" - failure is assured. Even now there are negative signs of the perpetuation of this shoddy system when the Americans say to the breaking of a substantive promise by the Palestinians that the main thing is to move forward. If there is not immediate attention to substantive violations, once again we will find ourselves in the post-Oslo mine field.

The lies he talks about are, on the Israeli side - the continuation of Jewish settlement in the territories; and on the Palestinian side - incitement and bloodshed.