The Peace Plan Is Dead
by Charley Reese

"To sum up: The Road Map is dead, because Sharon was against it from the beginning, Bush saw it only as a photo opportunity on a nice background and Abu Mazen did not get from Israel and the U.S. anything that he could present as a Palestinian achievement."

Those are the words of an Israeli writer, Uri Avnery. He is exactly right, despite Condoleezza Rice's schizoid claim that the peace plan is still alive. It's stone-cold dead. Heck, I told you so the day it was announced. The peace plan was bound to fail because President George W. Bush is too gutless to confront Israeli Prime Minster Ariel Sharon, and a Palestinian state is the last thing in the world Sharon wants.

The Palestinian prime minister, Abu Mazen (also known as Mahmoud Abbas), got a cease-fire, but, of course, Sharon simply continued to assassinate Palestinian leaders until he finally provoked the bus bombing. It was Sharon who violated the cease-fire, just as it was Sharon who started the intifada, but America's lap-dog media will never tell you that.
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  thanks to Aron's Israel Peace Weblog

The empty square
By Gideon Levy

Are there not at least 100,000 Israelis who are shocked by what Israel is doing to the Palestinians these days? Isn't there at least a tiny minority of a few tens of thousands who are losing sleep over the targeted assassinations? Or over the separation wall that is tearing Palestinians from their land? Or over the mass imprisonment that an entire nation has been living in for almost three years? Or over the abuse and humiliation an entire nation is being subjected to? Aren't there at least 10,000 Israelis who are not willing to remain silent? Does nothing that happens to our neighbors under the occupation have anything to do with us?

Judging by the conventional criteria of public mood and public readiness to act, the answer to all these questions is a resounding no.

The occupation has disappeared from the Israeli agenda and the Palestinians are not present as long as they don't perpetrate terrorism. Every day of quiet in Israel is another day of crass disregard of what is going on in our backyard. If there's no terrorism, there are no Palestinians.
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Cornered, besieged and in charge
By Danny Rubinstein

In his letter of resignation as Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) cast most of the blame on the Israeli government, which is continuing its previous policy in the territories. From the Palestinian point of view, Abu Mazen's government took a series of steps in an attempt to implement the road map, while the Israelis did zero in return. The Palestinian Authority established a government in order to bring about orderly governance, Abu Mazen instituted a reform in the PA's financial system and, most importantly, his government achieved a cease-fire on the part of the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. And what did Israel give? A meaningless release of a few hundred prisoners, most of whom were due to be released soon anyway, and a minority of whom were criminal offenders whose release the Palestinians had not even requested. In addition, the Israeli administration opened a road in Gaza and took down five roadblocks in the West Bank, out of nearly 220.
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Qureia calls on US to lean on Israel

Ahmed Qureia, the man nominated to take up the post of Palestinian prime minister, said today that he would only accept the job if the US guaranteed Israeli compliance with the latest peace plan.

"I want to see what kind of change on the ground the Israelis will make, what kind of support [I will get] from the United States in this regard," he said.
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Betrayal at Camp David

It was the first day of the Israeli-Egyptian peace negotiations, after Anwar Sadat's visit to Jerusalem. They took place at Mina House, a hotel rich in history near the Pyramids. In front of the building, the Egyptians had hoisted the flags of all the Arab countries they had invited (none showed up, of course). On one of the poles the Palestinian flag was fluttering merrily. I was going up the stairs, when I saw the Chief of the Israeli Security Service coming down in a great hurry. He was a bitter enemy of mine, and therefore I was rather surprised when he addressed me:
"Uri, you must help me! What does the PLO flag look like?"
"It's not the PLO flag," I corrected him,
"It's the Palestinian national flag." On a piece of paper, I drew its likeness.
"O my God!" he cried, "The Egyptians have hoisted this flag!"
He hurried back to the conference hall, and a few minutes later the Egyptians suddenly took down all the flags, including the Palestinian.
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