Do Israelis Care About Peace?

Welcome back to Bible in the News after the summer, this is David Billington with you. We now hope to resume our weekly schedule, God willing. Barack Obama has finally been successful in forcing the Israelis and the Palestinians to take part in peace negotiations. Both sides will now be very concerned over who will be blamed for the failure of the talks. Last time it was very difficult not to blame the Palestinians, led by Yasser Arafat at the time; Mr. Arafat turned down Ehud Barak's offer for an Arab state in most of the West Bank and Gaza strip. From the Palestinian Arab perspective probably the largest mistake they ever made. Now the Gaza Strip has been given to them by Israel unilaterally, however it is ruled over by the terror organization Hamas. The more secular Fatah (originally Yasser Arafat's terror organization) has the upper hand in the West Bank areas and are the ones negotiating with Israel, however they have little influence in the Gaza strip. This division makes the prospect of an Arab state in these areas problematic and unworkable and therefore the "peace talks" unworkable as well. Combine this with other factors such as Netanyahu's weak government, which may not be able to implement a "peace deal"; the Palestinians dependancy if not an addiction to UN aid and therefore little desire for a state of their own; Palestinians still teaching hate for Jews in school and not recognizing the Jewish state which still fosters a culture of terrorism. As a result of all this the potential for failure of the "peace talks" is very high, almost inevitable, and each side will be maneuvering to blame the other side for the "failure to reach an agreement". Everybody know this, all the involved politicians, journalists, middle-east affairs columnists, and media outlets.