Word: rabins
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...around them, very little has changed in relations between Israelis and Palestinians. Except, perhaps, in the incentives for resuming dialogue, and the disincentives for failing to do so. It is worth remembering, though, that it was not domestic epiphany that led to that historic White House handshake between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat - the Oslo peace process began, originally, in response to international pressure in the wake of the Gulf War. And in light of the changing world situation, the dependence of both sides on international backing may well eventually force Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table...
...sensitivities, there's nothing particularly new about it - a de facto a recognition of the Palestinians' right to statehood has undergirded both U.S. and Israeli policy in the last decade. President Clinton explicitly endorsed the principle late last year, while Israel's last two Labor Party prime ministers, Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak, implicitly accepted it as a basis for the Oslo peace process with the Palestinians. Oslo was based on the premise of a "two-state" solution to the half-century of conflict. At Camp David, Israelis and Palestinians were not negotiating over whether there would be a Palestinian...
...Yitzhak Rabin was no sentimental liberal - his commitment to peace was based on a strategic reading of the changing regional and global dynamics that saw Israel's long-term survival as dependent on transforming its political relationship with its Arab neighbors by trading land for peace. Sharon rejected that principle as foolhardy and reckless. The question before the Labor party today, then, is whether Oslo failed because of leadership failures on one or both sides, or whether it had been a bad idea to begin with. In other words, the party of Rabin is now facing a choice between...
...shoot his way out of the present crisis, but it behooves the U.S. to take the long view, in a wider regional context. And viewed against the backdrop of the long-term economic, political and demographic dynamics of the Middle East - at least in the way that Yitzhak Rabin read them when he embarked on the peace process - it may be that Sharon is in fact digging Israel and himself into a very dangerous hole. Israel is already in crisis. And in such moments, nations, like people, need friends who're not only supportive, but are also prepared to help...
...commit outrages? After all, if you're an Islamic Jihad leader, your objective is to stop any resumption of the peace process. And it's very easy to do, because one dramatic terror attack may be enough to derail it. Back in the early years of Oslo, Yitzhak Rabin factored that in by uncoupling terrorism from the future of negotiations. He famously said, "We will pursue peace as if there is no terrorism and fight terrorism as if there is no peace." But it's unlikely that Sharon is thinking this...