Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)
"The partners must make and implement the painful concessions they readily talk about."The United States should publicly and clearly articulate its own national interest in the two-state solution and the need for all its allies to understand and accommodate that. An already signed generous defense package underlines the American commitment to the security of Israel.
What of the big picture? Borders, Jerusalem and refugees? The answers lie in whether the leaders will be able to sustain a partnership that survives negotiations as it identifies and holds mutual red lines. The partners must make and implement the painful concessions they readily talk about. Their domestic entrenched and powerful opponents, and others, will use every trick in the book, as they often have, to frustrate understanding and progress. If there is one job that only the United States can do, it would be to hold the partnership together and make it succeed. …
Those who are opposed to such an outcome anywhere are on the other side of peace. Those who think ganging up on Israel and making it yield to pressure should abandon their counterproductive counsel. Those who think that humiliating the Palestinians into submission must unequivocally comprehend how consistently they have been proven wrong. Access the full article>>