FM thinks of his political skills.
"Page 250/251 Scars of war wounds of peace.Schlomo Ben Ami
"Tactical shortcomings were not, of course, a Palestinian monopoly.Barak and his team were full of them.For example, the Prime minister was too slow to grasp the centrality of the issue of Jerusalem at this conference and was therefore unprepared for the far reaching concessions that were required.Nor were Baraks,bargaining positions on the territorial issue reasonable enough to be seen by the Palestinians as credible.To start. as he did, with a proposal of a Palestinian State on 66% of the West Bank in order to offer later at camp David 87%, and not reject out of hand Clinton,s proposal at the summit of 91%,was an indication to the Palestinians that he did not really have red lines. Barak,s negotiating tactics were a standing invitation to the Palestinians to keep the pressure on the Israelis and never say yes to what Barak liked to call "His Generous Offer".
This question of Israel,s unreasonable point of departure for negotiations with potential Arab interlocutors, whether Palestinians, Syrians or Egyptians, is of far reaching signifigance.Israel,s unreasonable bargaining positions failed to convince the Arabs of the seriousness of "Professed" quest for peace. |
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