Dore Gold on Annapolis
November 29, 2007
The Annapolis conference is over but its impact should be felt for a long time here in the Middle East. After the conference, CBN News talked to former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold about his reaction to the conference. Gold has years of firsthand experience in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here's a summary of some of his analysis after the Annapolis conference.
- He felt there was a fundamental problem with the diplomatic sequence of the Annapolis summit. It starts with the most difficult problems for which there is no agreement. These issues include the right of return, borders and the city of Jerusalem. Gold believes first you need to build security for both Palestinians and Israelis. If you first establish security, it's followed by economic growth, international investment and prosperity. Then you can begin to deal with some of the most difficult issues.
- If the purpose of the conference was to create a united front against Iran, then the conference might have been counterproductive. Any future Palestinian state in the West Bank would be highly susceptible to a Hamas takeover. There's a broad consensus in Israel that the only force keeping Mahmoud Abbas in power is the IDF., the Israeli Defense Forces. If through the negotiations following Annapolis the IDF pulls out of the West Bank, Hamas will be the first one to fill the vacuum. Right now, Hamas dispatches dozens of terrorists from the Gaza Strip through Egypt on their way to Iran. There they receive training by Iran's Revolutionary Guard and return to the Gaza Strip. Gold asks, "Do we want this in the West Bank?"
- The Annapolis conference put the end of 2008 as the timetable for the establishment for a Palestinian state and the end of final status negotiations. Gold points out if it took months for Palestinians and Israeli negotiators to agree on the watered-down declaration agreed to in Annapolis. He asks, how anyone can believe the two parties can achieve a full-blown status agreement by the end of 2008?
- He hoped Israel did not tie its hands in Annapolis in regards to the situation in the Gaza Strip. He believes Israel cannot suffer a situation in which its citizens are subjected to a daily rocket barrage coming out of Gaza by Palestinian terrorists. Most Israelis wonder if Israel pulls out of the West Bank -- as it did in Gaza in 2005 -- would it be followed by more rockets attacks. Gold pointed out that any possible pull out from the West Bank would involve not just 10,000 Israelis, asit did in Gaza, but potentially more than 100,000 Israelis leaving the West Bank.
Finally, several weeks ago we interviewed Gold when some of the items then under negotiation between Israeli and Palestinians negotiators became public. We've included some of Gold's comments about returning to the 1967 borders and the division of Jerusalem. Even several weeks later, they're still pertinent.
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