Word: palestinians
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NATAN SHARANSKY Former Likud Minister and author of The Case for Democracy: I have always believed that real progress in the peace process will come from democratic reforms in Palestinian society. That was the reason for my criticism of Sharon's policy over the past two years. I believed that Sharon's unilateral moves would take us nowhere as long as they were not accompanied by some real democratic reforms on the other side. The question of whether the Palestinians can establish democracy will have a greater bearing on the peace process than will the end of Sharon's political...
SAEB EREKAT Palestinian chief peace negotiator: Sharon was very candid, very blunt and sometimes absolutely undiplomatic in his suspicion of?and frustration with?Palestinians and Arabs. He did not believe in negotiations, and he did not believe that we were ready as Palestinians for the end of the conflict. He suspended all contacts and negotiations; he did not consider us as partners. Now that he is gone, we have major concerns. First, regarding the Palestinian elections scheduled for this month: we hope that the situation and confusion in Israel will not prevent them from taking place, especially in East Jerusalem...
...MICHAEL OREN Senior fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem and author of Six Days of War: He will leave two legacies, perhaps of equal importance: a military legacy of conventional audacity and innovative anti-terrorism, and a diplomatic legacy of flexibility and openness toward Palestinians. But absent Palestinian reciprocity, it was a policy of unilateralism. Sharon departed from the Israeli paradigm?historically characterized by capturing a chunk of land and demanding, for its return, negotiations and recognition of Israel as a legitimate state. He called for a viable Arab partner with whom to negotiate. The acceptance of that shift...
...Israel, a meaningful peace for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict requires that leaders be willing to be bold. The few successes in the peace process have come about only when politicians resolve to make the difficult compromises that lasting agreements require. When Ariel Sharon was elected Israeli Prime Minister five years ago, few could have imagined that he would take the bold steps necessary to move the peace process forward. Of all the strengths that Sharon displayed during his decades in Israeli politics, willingness to compromise never was among them. And yet, as we contemplate Sharon’s sudden exit...
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remained in a medically induced coma last night after suffering a major stroke on Wednesday, and Israelis and Palestinians alike began to consider seriously a political future that probably would not include the prominent leader. “[Sharon] will not continue to be prime minister, but maybe he will be able to understand and to speak,” José Cohen, a neurosurgeon who has performed multiple operations on the prime minister, told the Jerusalem Post. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of the Jerusalem hospital where Sharon is being treated, said that Sharon...