Left to their own devices, two leaders cannot reach an agreement, but what is missing is not necessariliy foreign intervention. What is missing is support and backup by their two respective peoples, and reflecting those talks with simultaneous action on the ground. Talks cannot take place in a void in which leaders sit behind closed doors while actions in the field do not reflect a striving for peace, but in fact, reveal the opposite.
If Olmert had talked to Abbas in his Platinum Tower while settlement expansion was called to a halt, while military action in the West ank was ceased, and while the Palestinians stopped all violence, this agreement might have extended beyond Olmert`s living room without foreign intervention. As it happened, these talks were lip service only because they did not reflect the situation on the ground. |
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