Friday, August 14, 2009

Palestinian Authority PM Salam Fayyad to Haaretz

Palestinian Authority PM Salam Fayyad to Haaretz

Fayyad seems like a sensible fellow. The ball is in Israel's court right now to show that it is truly committed to peace. Bibi and Avigdor have surprised me so far by not starting a war or doing anything too extreme, but as PM Fayyad said, there are a lot of actions on the part of Israel that simply do not further any objectives other than a projection of IDF power. It is simply disgraceful that Israel has not secured the release of Gilad Shalit after more than 3 years. It is perplexing how Israel thinks it is furthering its security objectives by maintaining roadblocks that cause distress to common Palestinians. As we learned in Iraq and Afghanistan, you must win the hearts and minds of the people to defeat the terrorists. I have long believed that economic growth and social progress are the key to stopping terrorist activity in Palestine and ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. PM Fayyad, a respected economist, appears to understand this. Does Israel?

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