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Last update - 09:22 09/10/2007
The cat's tail
By Yoel Marcus

If peace breaks out between the Israelis and Palestinians at the Annapolis summit, I'll eat my hat.

Coincidentally or not, three days after the scheduled opening date, on November 29, it will be 60 years since the UN General Assembly approved the Partition Plan for creating two states in Mandatory Palestine. The Jews greeted the resolution with singing and dancing. The Arabs flatly rejected it, opening fire on two Egged buses the very next day.

The declaration of statehood on May 14, 1948 kicked off the War of Independence, and the blood spilled since then has smeared every page of the history books. Arab stupidity, intransigence and hatred dragged Israel into the Six-Day War, leading to 40 years of occupation and dominion over the Palestinian people.
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It has taken us a long time to understand that this glorious victory, studied in military academies around the world, was a pyrrhic victory. Today no democratic country rules another people, except Israel. Israel has become a prisoner of its 40-year occupation, turning us into a chronic target of terrorism and censure. We are denounced by both the Islamic world and the enlightened world.

The Annapolis summit takes us back 60 years, but with one difference. Most of the Palestinians are prepared to divide the country today, but on condition that they don't pay a penny for their idiocy, their ineptitude and their crimes, not to mention the Jewish blood they have spilled. They demand that we turn the clock back, that we pay them restitution, that we agree to their right of return, and so on and so on.

I don't know what Arab Palestine would have looked like if the Palestinians had accepted the UN Partition Plan in 1947. My guess is that their state would have been bigger, we would have been reasonably good neighbors, and they would be better off than they are today. But the world has changed. Political interests have changed. Imperialism has gone out of style. The Cold War between the superpowers has turned into a struggle against a new enemy: crazed Islamic fundamentalists who have declared global war on the infidels, on the Great Satan, on the Little Satan. All are targets of deadly, indiscriminate terror - terror that is nurturing nuclear claws.

Who would have believed that after the annihilation of 6 million Jews, a Holocaust-denying Muslim leader would get up in New York and openly declare that his goal is wiping out Israel? Who would have believed that his emissaries and instructors would be infiltrating Israel to help Palestinian extremist organizations complete the job that Hitler didn't finish?

If there was ever a time when strong leaders were needed to reach an agreement between the two peoples, before a third intifada breaks out, the time is now. The first to realize this was Ariel Sharon, who sent the dream of a Greater Israel into the deep freeze and focused on disengaging from the territories and dividing the land. No one knows what he would have done had he seen how the evacuation of Gush Katif turned out, with Gaza turning from a liberated territory into a Hamas base for attacks on Israeli towns. But it is clear now that unilateral disengagement was a mistake. There is no substitute for an agreement between the parties, and there never will be.

On the eve of the summit, the problem is the feeble leadership of Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). They look more like two British gentlemen meeting for a drink at the club than tough statesmen who can force the extremists in their camps to accept peace based on mutual concessions and conciliation with the enemy.

I find it hard to imagine Abu Mazen putting his foot down in Gaza, halting terror, dissolving the terrorist organizations and ending the Qassam rocket fire. I find it hard to imagine Olmert, under a cloud of criminal investigations, getting a quarter of a million Greater Israel groupies to give up the territories and kiss some of their settlements goodbye. In the cabinet, I don't see how Olmert will get around Ehud Barak, who opposes the summit and calls it "hot air," or Tzipi Livni and Avi Dichter, who are riddled with doubt, or Shaul Mofaz, who says that "Jerusalem is not a piece of real estate."

These guys can't even tie a knot in a cat's tail, Pinhas Sapir used to say about politicians of the Olmert and Abu Mazen ilk. With George W. Bush and Olmert scraping the bottom of the barrel in the public opinion polls, and Abu Mazen lacking his people's support, peace is not going to erupt in Annapolis. But the importance of this summit is that it is held at all. No one ever died from talking.
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  1.   mr. marcus is perfectly right 09:29  |  saul a. readner 09/10/07
  2.   verbal fornication 09:46  |  KMS 09/10/07
  3.   Try to denyit: but facts are facts 09:51  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 09/10/07
  4.   Ethnocratic- not democratic Israel don`t want peace 09:54  |  Petter 09/10/07
  5.   Excellent, Yoel! 09:56  |  S 09/10/07
  6.   Olmert and Abbas are inconsequential. Bush is boss 10:08  |  Natallie Durson 09/10/07
  7.   Zionism=Nazism 10:11  |  Albert 09/10/07
  8.   Wrong conclusions,it`s false "none died of talking",Münich is an 10:21  |  Absolute Sweden 09/10/07
  9.   Yoel, what can one say after that? 10:26  |  Esther 09/10/07
  10.   Never the right time for peace 10:30  |  Andrew watson 09/10/07
  11.   Impossible to make peace with a fictional entity because there 10:41  |  Uzi 09/10/07
  12.   NOTE FOR LABARSEAND JOHNBOY 10:45  |  paul harris 09/10/07
  13.   Arabs must spell out what they GIVE in return for what they want 10:47  |  Uzi 09/10/07
  14.   ruling another people 11:09  |  john 09/10/07
  15.   Inconsistent 11:19  |  bill 09/10/07
  16.   #6 Why would I, Paul Harris? 11:32  |  Johnboy 09/10/07
  17.   Sorry Yoel 11:35  |  Palestinian Prince 09/10/07
  18.   Margie # 2 11:38  |  Guido 09/10/07
  19.   #7 They are an OCCUPIED PEOPLE, Uzi! 11:48  |  Johnboy 09/10/07
  20.   #12 THE PALESTINIAN STATE IS CALLED JORDAN 11:50  |  paul harris 09/10/07
  21.   albert and his strange view of zionism and nazism 12:06  |  scallywag 09/10/07
  22.   BOTH ARE LAME DUCKS:PEACE IS A FANTASY 12:09  |  R.EALITY 09/10/07
  23.   Guido 12:16  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 09/10/07
  24.   kms and natallie 12:19  |  scallywag 09/10/07
  25.   Any Step Towards Peace is a Step in the Right Direction 12:26  |  Jane 09/10/07
  26.   palestinian prince 12:28  |  scallywag 09/10/07
  27.   It`s the Fox not the cat`s tail ! 12:31  |  Akram Zekaria 09/10/07
  28.   Johnny Johnny Johnny boy 12:36  |  Jasmine Murphy 09/10/07
  29.   Same ideology Scallywag 12:45  |  Albert 09/10/07
  30.   Beg to differ. Nat #6 12:57  |  Esther 09/10/07
  31.   #20 Paul Harris remains chronologically-challenged 13:03  |  Johnboy 09/10/07
  32.   again to albert 13:05  |  scallywag 09/10/07
  33.   Albert what reasoning powers you lack 13:12  |  Jasmine Murphy 09/10/07
  34.   #31 JB MAKES HIS OWN HISTORY UP AS USUAL 13:15  |  paul harris 09/10/07
  35.   No danger of eating your hat 13:16  |  Truths 09/10/07
  36.   How can a guy with a PhD in Holocaust denial make peace? 13:20  |  Oiy Oiy Oiy 09/10/07
  37.   #28 Jasmine puts on the rose-colored glasses 13:22  |  Johnboy 09/10/07
  38.   Peace forum 13:29  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 09/10/07
  39.   #73 Akram`s slept thru his history lessons 13:35  |  Johnboy 09/10/07
  40.   Marcus too weak to understand the truth 13:39  |  Frank 09/10/07
  41.   #33 Jasmine Murphy doesn`t know Israeli policy between 67-73 13:49  |  Johnboy 09/10/07
  42.   #34 Paul Harris rants his ignorance again 13:57  |  Johnboy 09/10/07
  43.   #38 Margie who believes she is a peacemaker 14:01  |  Labhras 09/10/07
  44.   No magic formula 14:12  |  ScotGuy 09/10/07
  45.   Olmert and the Churchmouse 14:19  |  Tony Anthony 09/10/07
  46.   Bloody their noses johnny boy? 14:30  |  Jasmine Murphy 09/10/07
  47.   Scallywag 14:32  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 09/10/07
  48.   Esther #9 14:36  |  S 09/10/07
  49.   Locating Natalie Durson - for your further action 14:56  |  Yonatan 09/10/07
  50.   #7 Albert = Albert Speer 14:58  |  Yonatan 09/10/07
  51.   kms 15:05  |  A.M. 09/10/07
  52.   S # 49 15:09  |  American in NY 09/10/07
  53.   #42JB AND MORE HOMEMADE HISTORY 15:12  |  paul harris 09/10/07
  54.   Yoel Marcus- Living in Denial 15:40  |  Yoram 09/10/07
  55.   Margie #47 16:22  |  Guido 09/10/07
  56.   Power corrupts, and absolute power should be humoured 16:26  |  Philip Lundquist 09/10/07
  57.   #46 Spare me the ignorance, Jasmine 16:38  |  Johnboy 09/10/07
  58.   #53 Time to put on your thinking cap, Paul Harris 16:54  |  Johnboy 09/10/07
  59.   THE DOG`S TAIL... OR ABBAS`s DREAMLAND 16:55  |  Titanus 09/10/07
  60.   mysterious ways 17:01  |  khairi janbek 09/10/07
  61.   39# Johnboy: Read facts as quoted bellow:-pt-1 17:01  |  Akram Zekaria 09/10/07
  62.   American in NY #52 17:03  |  S 09/10/07
  63.   JB YOU ARE TOTALLY INSANE I HAVE NEVER READ 17:10  |  paul harris 09/10/07
  64.   Johnboy # 46 17:15  |  Guido 09/10/07
  65.   tough statesmenship means a la Jimmy Carter style 17:21  |  Smadar 09/10/07
  66.   You`re right about non-violence & Johnboy, Jasmine 17:37  |  Polybios 09/10/07
  67.   Marcus - Finally, He Learned Something 17:50  |  Tod Zuckderman 09/10/07
  68.   guido cc. margie 17:54  |  scallywag 09/10/07
  69.   39#Johnboy:Read facts as quoted bellow.pt-2 17:58  |  Akram Zekaria 09/10/07
  70.   Albert and false analogies 18:17  |  Professor 09/10/07
  71.   Mr.Markus A Well Written Piece With Clarity.. 18:19  |  Kath` 09/10/07
  72.   Polybios 18:36  |  Jasmine Murphy 09/10/07
  73.   Polybios 18:36  |  Jasmine Murphy 09/10/07
  74.   #47 Margie in Ta wants a country- but where is the map. 18:43  |  Labhras 09/10/07
  75.   Yoram (54) - Great Post 19:00  |  Tod Zuckerman 09/10/07
  76.   Bottom Line 19:25  |  Danite 09/10/07
  77.   Margie`s peace forum 19:56  |  guesswho 09/10/07
  78.   Guido 20:48  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 09/10/07
  79.   ENOUGH! ALWAYS An Excuse...Sharon (The STRONG Leader) Did What?! 21:53  |  Proud Pal Defender 09/10/07
  80.   labhras re margie 74 21:56  |  scallywag 09/10/07
  81.   proud pal defender and excuses 22:08  |  scallywag 09/10/07
  82.