With respect to Danny Wakil letter his position – Palestinians don’t want peace but Israel does – is based solely on the unsupported assumption that what Israel offered in peace negotiations was always the right thing to offer, but what Palestinians offered was always the wrong thing to offer.
Let’s take a look at the last peace offer from the Palestinian side, word for word, through the ‘Arab Papers’ leak, a transcript of the actual negotiations published in The Guardian and Der Spiegel. Palestinians offered never to have an army, for Israel to keep all but four of its illegal settlements, and strong indicators to give up the right of return – but Israel still refused!
There is nothing more we can offer and still have a free and viable Palestinian state. Read the transcripts and you will see nothing but grovelling from the Palestinian side.
Israel on the other hand, against the wishes of the UN and all the countries of the world, continues to do its best to make our freedom impossible by building illegal settlements deep within Palestine and by forced demolitions of Palestinian homes (like the 500 Palestinians made homeless just last week).
Despite this, Israel refuses to define its borders. This is a sure indicator of an aggressive and expansive stance, we have recognised it for decades – but Israel refuses to even say the name of my country or even my people!
How can we believe it wants peace when it won’t even say our name? Israel’s clear and explicit policy is there never will be a free state of Palestine – read it on the Israeli government Likud website for yourself.
If Israel wants peace can you tell me why it repeatedly rejects Palestinian and UN calls for UN peacekeepers and cessation of settlement building?
What Israel means by peace is that Palestinians will continue to live as racial inferiors, under military law and with no human rights (apartheid) in ever more restricted and shrinking ghettos and in abject poverty forever: at least Israel is clear, open and honest in that regard.
Subhi Awad, Mullumbimby
This letter appeared in Echo NetDaily.