Missing the Point

Today's New York Times lead editorial, "Still Waiting to Seize the Moment," as usual misses the point. Our nation was attacked on 9/11 because of our foreign policy towards Muslims, especially our support of Israel's occupation of Palestine. President Bush's first peace initiative, the "Road Map," an incrementalist approach with negotiations only occurring at at the end, has been a failure. Having no precise definition of the borders of a proposed Palestinian state, there has been no incentive for those fighting the occupation to cease and desist, especially as Jewish settlements in the occupied territory keep increasing. President Bush now recognizes this and has called for immediate negotiations on the core issues: borders, refugees, and Jerusalem, without waiting for Road Map preconditional goals, such as disarming militants and ending settlement expansion, to be achieved. Ever since Israeli Prime Minister Sharon provoked the second intifada by means of his Temple Mount performance, Israel has refused negotiations on core issues. Tragically, Arafat kept pleading for a continuation of the Taba peace talks which came so close to an agreement. Now Bush declares that the occupation must end and that Palestinians have waited long enough for a state, which must be viable, contiguous, and not of the Swiss cheese variety offered to Arafat. Today's editorial argues that "Israelis and Palestinians won't be willing to think about making compromises until they see tangible improvements in their lives." This is the old failed Road Map mentality. The point is that only when a fair and just peace settlement, which ends the occupation, is agreed upon and voted upon by all parties, including those in Gaza, only then will violence end. At this point there will indeed be very tangible improvements in everyone's lives, including ours.