You’ve missed the boat, Mr. Krauthammer

Arlene Kushner
Arlene from Israel
September '10

A response to a column by Charles Krauthammer -- “Your move, Mr. Abbas” -- that appeared in the Washington Post on September 10, 2010 and can be found at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/09/AR2010090904999.html


Charles Krauthammer commends President Obama for establishing a final agreement as the goal of Middle East talks. Krauthammer identifies two major stumbling blocks to such a deal: that PA President Mahmoud Abbas lacks a popular consensus, and that he refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. If Abbas had popular backing and the courage to move ahead, Krauthammer says, a settlement would be within reach. After all: “a final peace… remains on the table.”

Krauthammer is correct in his initial, limited assessment of Abbas. However, he then strays far afield, offering unwarranted assumptions and errors of fact:

When he observes that “a final peace… remains on the table,” he explains that he is referring to the offer made in 2000 at Camp David by Ehud Barak, then Prime Minister of Israel, to nay-saying PA President Yasser Arafat, during a summit orchestrated by President Bill Clinton. Krauthammer echoes other pundits who maintain that we already “know” what the “peace” looks like, and that the parties need only flesh out details. As it happens, however, he has not done his homework.

(Read full article)

If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page. 
.