There is a myth in the Middle East among Palestinians and Arabs that peace with the State of Israel depends on who is the Prime Minister in Israel and that if there is no Rabin or no Olmert, peace will not be possible. Well, they are wrong and that thinking is just that, a myth, not real and not factual.
Peace with Israel does not at all depend on who is the Prime Minister in Israel but it depends on how Palestinians and Arabs think and how they deal with Israel.
Having said the above, great leaders do make a difference and do speedup things and do overcome routine processes and jump over road blocks however people cannot wait for such leaders to appear, they do not appear often, and must accordingly depend on better thinking and depend not on the other side to make the move but make themselves the necessary moves.
Like in love, you have to show who you love that you love them, that you care about them and encourage them to make the move but you must move.
Peace with Israel depends on a national Palestinian project that emphasizes basics regardless of whom is in office or whom is the governing party in Israel; Likud in Israel is like Labor and like the rest, they are willing and understand that peace with the Palestinians and a state in Gaza and the West Bank are two fundamentals that are part of the Israeli strategic long term destination. But the journey to that destination, the Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank differs in Israel from one party to another and from one politician to another- like any country with multiparty and democratic systems.
The Job of the Palestinian people is to level the field and present a road map for the journey that will lead to the independent state in Gaza and the West Bank.
The roadmap for the journey consists of a Palestine that is Gaza and the West Bank, a realistic resolution for the Palestinian refugees in Arab countries and in Gaza and the West Bank, a realistic resolution for Israeli settlers in the West Bank and finally a resolution for Jerusalem that consists of an open city with an open heart and borders and open religious places where Muslims Jewish and Christians can walk freely and practice their duties freely and peacefully.
Once the roadmap is clear and based on the above, Israel will respond and it will respond positively because Israel’s journey since 1948 has had one destination: peace with the Arabs and the Palestinians and a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank. The time is now for the Palestinian people to drop all the nonsense and all the hypocrisy that never brought them anything but brought upon themselves misery and extend the hand, an open hand to the neighbors next door and gently pull them closer and draw a map, a map for two people in two states.
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