Walking the walk
A number of letters have criticized my op-ed piece, “Mr. Prime Minister, why are you waiting?” (May 12).
The purpose of the essay was to indicate that the Prime Minister has not ever offered an Israeli overall peace plan to the Palestinian Authority, nor has he believably offered to negotiate with an aim to resolve the dispute. Mr. Netanyahu rejected in the past the Oslo Accords, the Arab Peace Initiatives, and the Olmert-Abbas negotiations.
In his talk to Congress, which I attended, he stated he would not enter into negotiations until Mr. Abbas recognized the Jewish State of Israel. This flies in the face of the agreement at Oslo when the PLO recognized the State of Israel and pledged to reject violence, and the Arab peace initiative, which also offered to recognize the State of Israel, signed a peace agreement with Israel, and achieved peace for all states in the region.
In a 2001 video, Netanyahu said, “They asked me before the election if I’d honor the Oslo Accords….I said I would, but I’m going to interpret the Accords in such a way that would allow me to put an end to this galloping forward to the ’67 borders….I stopped the Oslo Accords.”
I didn’t give him the standing ovations he received from the gallery at his speech to Congress. He may on rare occasions talk the talk, but he has shown no willingness to walk the walk toward a peaceful settlement of the Palestine-Israeli dispute.
Larry Lerner
Warren
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