TEMPERING HOPES FOR REAL PEACE

The Annapolis Meeting: Not at Any Price - Yoel Marcus (Ha'aretz)

• The Annapolis meeting is the private initiative of U.S. Secretary of State Rice. She wants to give Bush a farewell gift, a little something from our neighborhood.
• This meeting is going to be a quickie. An international brief encounter, not an international conference. It will be a forum not for negotiations, but for speeches, as well as a summarizing declaration of principles that will serve as a guideline for talks on the establishment of two states for two peoples.
• The trouble is that, in practice, any agreement that Olmert and Abbas sign at Annapolis will obligate only half of the Palestinians. Abbas will be stronger in the eyes of the world, but not in the eyes of most of his people. The Israeli public does not have the strength, emotional or otherwise, for another dummy compromise with the Palestinians.
• What happened after the withdrawal from Gush Katif, with its removal of settlers by force, has left us deeply wounded and disappointed over the outcome. Sderot and other towns near Gaza have not enjoyed a moment's peace. It is hard to believe that a country as powerful as Israel is just sitting there and watching its cities being pounded by rockets day after day, year after year.
• Intelligence sources in Israel are shocked at the transformation of Hamas gangs into a genuine military force in Gaza, complete with uniforms, arms, instructors and Iranian ideology that may soon seep into the West Bank, whose control could fall into Hamas' hands.
• Olmert must go to Annapolis as Mr. Peace, but play Mr. Security when he gets there. Annapolis is good, but not at any price.