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Challenging the Myths of Oslo and Camp David
By Mark Hage, The Times Argus 11/19/2004
Let me respond to some of Barrie Dunsmore's reflections on Yassir Arafat ("Arafat's Checkered Legacy," November 14), notably his statement that the Palestinian leader "…turned down the best deal for peace the Israelis were ever likely to offer" at Camp David in 2000. First, how strange that Dunsmore opines on Arafat's lack of a "proper beard," but remains silent on Israel's land confiscations and illegal settlements. Second, I take strong exception to his assertion that Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak were sincerely searching for peace during the Oslo years. Rabin never endorsed the creation of a viable Palestinian state as envisioned by the PLO, and Barak opposed the Oslo accords when he was Chief of Staff. Further, the Jewish settler population nearly doubled in the occupied territories during this period. The notion that these men came up empty handed in their quest for peace because Arafat could not stop fiddling with his "revolutionary persona" is a fairy tale. On the matter of Camp David, there is an exceptional insider's account by Robert Malley, former Special Assistant for Arab-Israeli Affairs to President Clinton. Malley broke his silence in 2001. According to his published accounts, at Camp David the Palestinians: (a) accepted a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders; (b) agreed that the return of Palestinian refugees should be implemented so as not to threaten Israel's Jewish character or security interests; (c) conceded to Israel's annexation of West Bank territory on which the largest Jewish settlements rest; and (d) acquiesced to Tel Aviv's sovereignty over Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem that were not part of Israel before 1967. "No other Arab party that has negotiated with Israel," Malley contends, "…ever came close to even considering such compromises." As for Barak's negotiation strategy, Malley claims that "Had any member of the U.S. peace team been asked to describe Barak's true positions before or even during Camp David…they would be hard-pressed to answer. The final and largely unnoticed consequence of Barak's approach is that, strictly speaking, there never was an Israeli offer…. The Israelis always stopped one, if not several, steps short of a proposal." In fact, Barak's positions were never put in forward in writing, but were orally conveyed and presented for the most part as U.S. concepts. So much for Dunsmore's claim of "even-handedness" by the Clinton administration.If Barrie Dunsmore finds Mr. Malley's perspective insufficient, he should read Tanya Reinhart's brilliant analysis in her book "Israel/Palestine: How to End the War of 1948." An Israeli scholar, she thoroughly deconstructs Barak's (and Clinton's) machinations and demonstrates the terrible deceptions perpetrated on the world and suffered by the Palestinians as a result of Camp David.
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