Tawfik Hamid on The Real Reasons Behind the Arab-Israeli Conflict

http://tinyurl.com/34ujpsz
The Real Reasons Behind the Arab-Israeli Conflict By Tawfik Hamid
...Despite peace treaties such as the Oslo Accords, hatred toward Jews and Israel has risen to unprecedented levels in the Palestinian areas and continues to rise in much of the Muslim world...Israel proved its dedication to peace when it withdrew from Sinai, Lebanon, and Gaza in hope of peace with its neighbors...What perpetuates the stalemate? One ..Palestinians do not accept the existence of Israel...their participation in negotiations is fake, hypocritical, and doomed to fail. It is impossible to negotiate with a partner about borders if this partner does not accept your existence to begin with..second..is the selfish mentality of the Palestinian leadership....True leaders must be ready to make concessions to ensure a better life for their people....third..is the international community's naive belief that less radical Palestinians are “moderates.” Fatah is not much different from Hamas in its refusal to accept that Israel is an established country ...Fatah is also virtually identical to Hamas with regard to its promotion of extreme anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propagandist incitement....fourth...is that the Palestinian leadership prefers to live — and to make their population live — in delusions rather than in reality. Just recently, an official Palestinian report claimed that a key Jewish holy site — Jerusalem's Western Wall — has no religious significance to Jews... impossible to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict if the Palestinian leaders insist on living in such delusions ...fifth factor...is that the Palestinians of Gaza who elected Hamas have not had to pay the price for their choice....Allowing Palestinians to see that Hamas is unable to fulfill its promises would weaken radical Islam in the area. European and American economic support for Gaza...masks the realities of the radical group's poor governance and enables them to survive.
With Hamas still strong,...their version of Islamic doctrine forbids any accommodation with the Jewish state.
What about Israel's role in the stalemate? What mistake does Israel continue to make?
...inhibiting progress has been insufficient use by Israel of negative consequences, perhaps in part because their American and European "allies" would balk at such tactics....until Fatah and Hamas accept the minimal principles necessary for Israel to participate in any further negotiations. These principles would include:
1. Declaration of the right of the Jewish state of Israel to exist;
2. Cessation of both verbal incitement and physical violence against Israeli civilians and;
3. Implementation of all previous agreements between Palestinians and Israelis.
Lastly, what of America's role? Blaming Israel for Palestinian hostility is counterproductive....Concrete evidence shows that unilateral concessions from the Israeli side without significant concessions from the Palestinian side are counterproductive.
Unfortunately, given the mentality of the Palestinian leadership, a strategy by Israel and its allies of negative consequences is probably the only strategy with potential to, at last, give peace a chance.