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Applying the Golden Rule

With news overnight that Israel could be prepared to sit down with Arab nations to take up discussions on the s0-called Saudi peace plan for the Middle East, one still has to wonder whether Israel would, in fact, give up what on any view is illegally occupied land for peace with the Palestinians. It's doubtful, as Israel has now after 40 years of occupation changed so dramatically geographically. Israel, too, has imposed such a high barrier to any peace that whether the Palestinians would remotely agree to them is questionable.

Herbert C. Kelman, professor emeritus of social ethics and co-chairman of the Middle East Seminar at Harvard University, in an op-ed piece in the Boston Globe says:

"An early return to the Middle East negotiating table is not a favor to the Palestinians, but an urgent requirement for protecting the vital interests of both Palestinians and Israelis.

That is because the long-term survival of Israel as a Jewish-majority state, giving political expression to the national identity of the Jewish people, depends on negotiating a fair two-state solution that establishes an independent, viable Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with its capital in East Jerusalem."

And:

"If negotiations are to be constructive and conducive to a mutually satisfactory outcome, they must be based on the principle of reciprocity. Neither party can ask the other to negotiate under conditions that it is itself unwilling to accept."

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