Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Can Mideast States Coexist?

This letter by PRIMER Board Member Daniel Schaefer was published in the Hartford Courant June 9, 2009.

Although President Barack Obama has called for still another Arab state, one for Palestine [World & Nation, June 4, "Outreach To Arab World Begins"], the week before he had asked Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to "try to temper vehemently anti-Israeli public sentiment among Palestinians."

President Obama stated that it was "very important to continue to make progress in reducing the incitement and anti-Israel sentiments that are sometimes expressed in schools and mosques and in the public square, because all those things are impediments to peace."

Why at this late date, when the Palestinian Authority demands statehood, does it continue to allow mosques and even schools to incite anti-Israel "sentiments?" If we force a Palestinian state to be created, will it really live in peace with its neighbors and not degenerate into still another outlaw, terrorist organization?

As Shakespeare stated, in words inscribed at our National Archives, "What is Past is Prologue."

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