Decision to put Middle East Peace Train back on Track in 2007
January 13, 2007
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
This is a follow up to a BLOG issued earlier this week on January 11, titled, “The Pain in Spain has been mainly in Vain!”
Begin Jerusalem Post Article
Solana: It’s time for action in Mideast
Marion Fischel, Jerusalem Post Correspondent, THE JERUSALEM POST
January 12, 2007
The Madrid + 15 Peace Conference concluded Friday with a decision to put the peace train back on track during the first half of 2007.
Spanish President Felipe Gonzalez attributed the failure of the Oslo Accords, which were reached before the PLO had recognized Israel, to the fact that the negotiations
had moved from the private into the public domain before the agreements had become permanent.
He compared the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference to the present one, saying that in 1991, the language had been “tougher than the present language, the distance between the parties was greater and the hope for achieving a true and lasting peace was less.” This time, he said, the language had been more direct and rational.
Gonzalez referred to the 2002 Arab League Initiative as “amazing,” saying he could not believe that the international community had
not recognized it as an irreversible step.
He asked that the US play a part in the peace process without “too much involvement.”
“The Arab-Israeli issue may or may not be the epicenter of the problem,” said Gonzalez, “but if it is not solved we cannot advance to the other issues.”
Gonzalez quoted [former executive chairman of UNMOVIC] Hans Blix as saying that “traditional methods are useless against the new international terrorism and arms proliferation.”
“The use of force,” said Gonzalez, produces more international terrorism, both present and potential.
EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana, who attended only part of the conference, said that “the moment of action has come.”
“It is imper ative to continue with
a step-by-step approach. [UN Representative] Terje Roed-Larsen has said that the totality is ‘too big,’ so let us take the Israeli-Palestinian issue first,” Solana continued.
Outlining the formula for a successful peace process, Solana, who defined himself as “a friend of Israel and of the Palestinians,” said that the process would need to be “comprehensive,” and include “outside monitoring.”
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos called upon the international community to “intervene but not impose,” adding that “It is not enough to concentrate on the Palestinian situation while the issues with Syria and Lebanon remain blocked.”
End Jerusalem Post Article
When I was actively engaged as a teacher in the American Education Institutions, I naturally belonged as a due paying member of various teacher organizations and associations. It did not take me more than a few meetings at State and National Programs, to recognize they were an outstanding learning preparatory for “Introduction to Rhetoric Course 101.” And, after only four meetings, I had graduated from “Advanced Rhetoric Course 404,” having learned to say a lot without ever saying anything beneficial in advancing the profession of teaching.
It seems the speakers of this Madrid Peace Conference have also graduated from the “Advanced Peace Rhetoric Course,” some 15 years after they first met.
Quite frankly, I am of the opinion that only rhetoric, and not action or results, will come out of this Madrid Meeting.
Of course, I hope I am wrong.
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