With respect to the letter from Subhi Awad (11 March), I dream of the day when what you write is factually correct; sadly, it is fantasy. To suggest that the Palestinians ‘have offered all that is humanly possible to achieve peace’ and that ‘the peace offer is on the table, all Israelis need to do is reach out and grab it’ is laughable.
Read the historical record. President Bill Clinton documented it in his autobiography. He sets out what happened in the peace talks at Camp David, which he convened. Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, offered Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat 95 per cent of the West Bank for a future state of Palestine, and what did Arafat do? He walked away, without a counter-offer.
Current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did the same thing when the next Israeli PM, Ehud Olmert, put a similar offer on the table.
The Palestinian leadership has refused every peace deal that Israel has put forward. No peace offer has ever been put forward by the Palestinians.
It is clear that much of the Arab world is warming to Israel, with increasing trade ties and dialogue, and is sick of corrupt Palestinian leadership robbing the Palestinian people of billions of dollars in international aid.
At the same time, Palestinian leaders incite violence and terrorism; just pick up a Palestinian school textbook and you will find Dalal Mughrabi, who murdered about 35 Israelis on a bus, being saluted and honoured. What message is that giving Palestinian youth?
Tragically, it is Palestinian leaders who continue to let down the Palestinian people by never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
The Trump Plan may be flawed, but why not use it as a bargaining tool? It offers the Palestinians $US50 billion in aid; can you imagine how that could transform Palestinian society? Sadly, the Palestinian leadership is far more focused on wanting to destroy its neighbour, Israel, than on uplifting its people.
Shalom/Salaam Subhi, shalom/salaam.
Read the letter by Danny Wakil, Billinudgel in Echo NetDaily.