"Saudis Cool to Israeli Overture"
Published Friday, November 14, 2008
World Briefing, A10, By Neil MacFarquhar
MacFarquhar misreports Israel's response to the Saudi peace plan, suggesting that turning over Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority is one of Israel's two primary concerns. In fact, this possibility has been on the table since 2000, and the current Israeli government has of late publicly advocated division ad nauseum.
The two main problems Israel has with the Saudi peace plan are the maintenance of the so-called right of return and the call to withdraw to the 1949 armistice lines, or 'Green Line,' which runs contrary to the intent of UN Security Council Resolution 242.
Prince Saud al-Faisal certainly acts like royalty. He expects his proposal not to be seen as an initial move in negotiations, but as a decree, or as he stated "a package deal." Return to sender.
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Well put and witty.
ReplyDeleteThe last sentece of the piece is severely problematic: "Israel has been reluctant to approve parts of the plan that involve handing back the mostly Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem and allowing the return of Palestinian refugees."
Using this language, it seems that Israel is simply dragging its feet against the inevitable. Regarding the return of Palestinian refugees, it is not that Israel is simply "reluctant" but rather completely unwilling to do so outside a symbolic return of those refugees that were directly dispossessed in 1948.