Hamas still wants to liberate 'all of Palestine'

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
17 December 09

"The truth is harsh. The occupation is destroying Israel. It is undermining Israel's ethical, democratic and diplomatic foundations"
Hamas still wants to liberate 'all of Palestine' By Ari Shavit, Haaretz

So claims Ari Shavit.

I would suggest that, in retrospect, much of the activity surrounding Oslo has been "undermining Israel's ethical, democratic and diplomatic foundations."

Oslo was, from the first day, a story of tremendous corruption - both financial and professional - among Israeli officials involved in the "process".

- many of the Israelis involved with the Palestinians made personal fortunes in business deals that they made - at times with the very same Palestinians that they interacted with on a profffessional basis - that were related to the PA.

- many of the Israelis involved seriously and consciously distorted the assessments that they provided to policy makers so that their careers would not be hurt by being identified as an "enemy of the peace process".

- democratic values were ignored or abused in moves to push through various policies and programs that were at odds with the mandates given the elected leadership as expressed in the results of elections in which the candidate and parties promised that a vote for them was a vote against those very policies and programs.

- Oslo took Yasser Arafat and his PLO off the dungheap of history (wallowing in Tunis after being thrown out of Lebanon) - leading ultimately to the diplomatic challenge we face today.]
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