3. A missed chance.
Robert Bernier , |
Tel Aviv |
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(05.29.08) |
The American and Israeli embrace of Abbas and his Palestinian Authority makes genuine peace more remote. Before Oslo there was a growing Palestinian middle class in the territories that could have provided the foundation for a stable, peace-seeking civil society. Yitzhak Rabin, both before and after his 1992 election as prime minister, proposed holding internationally supervised elections in the territories for a domestic leadership that would then negotiate with Israel over establishment of a Palestinian government and disposition of the territories. But local Palestinian leaders, despite their interest in Rabin's offer, were intimated PLO threats; while Israel's Peace Movement demonstrated against Rabin and insisted he deal with Arafat as the only legitimate leader of the Palestinians. Rabin capitulated and, via the initial Oslo agreements, allowed Arafat and his associates to come from Tunis and establish the Palestinian Authority. Very rapidly, members of what had been a growing middle class, faced now with Fatah corruption, shakedowns that undermined their businesses, political intimidation, and casual violence, began to leave the territories. Those who remained, still hoping to build a future for their families in the territories, soon saw their children brainwashed, through Arafat's schools, mosques and media, into believing that the best future was to die fighting to destroy Israel. Abbas's message to his people, through the PA's vehicles of indoctrination, continues to be what it was under Arafat and differs little from that of Hamas.
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