west bank

[Chris Alger]

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A dozen people who follow and write about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for a living

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There's a simple test for this: find the offer that Barak supposedly made and that Arafat rejected. (At Camp DAvid, Arafat did reject Israel's insistence on sovereignty over the entire Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount area, but had no proposal dealing with the whole range of issues before him. The Israelis made no binding or written offer at Camp David at all). I haven't looked there recently, but the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs website has exhaustive documentation on Israel's diplomatic history. Then try to figure out why, if Arafat walked away from an offer at Camp David, were the Palestinians and Israelis still negotiating at Taba six months later when the intifada was in full swing and there purportedly was nothing to negotiate. Moreover, this is a matter of public record and has been extensively documented (including on film, no less) by several key participants.

The pundits I referred to don't "follow and write about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for a living," they broadcast the pro-Israel line for a living. They usually know a lot more about the issue than I do, but they don't report it honestly because the money and power are greater when you say things that money and power want to hear.