Barak is doubly damned. Not only was he a failure, but he laid the seeds of subsequent failure by creating the “Myth of Camp David.” We are all familiar with this myth: “Barak made Arafat an incredibly generous offer. Arafat turned it down, and turned to violence. Ergo, Arafat is not a partner.” In simpler words: Israel Good, Palestinians Bad. Unk Unk. Amazingly enough this simplistic myth has formed the basis of the Bush administrations policies, and has been the banner of Israel’s war on the Palestinians for the past 18 months.
Here are two articles by Hussein Agha and Robert Malley that debunk the Myth:
Camp David: The Tragedy of Errors
Camp David and After: An Exchange
(Although these links no longer work here you can view at least the second article by following the link in the Wikipedia article about Robert Malley).
Dennis Ross, another winner, has been trying to prop up Barak’s myth as well. Of course, the knockout question remains:
Assuming the Myth is true, and it’s all Arafat’s fault, does this justify Israel’s waging war on the Palestinian people? Will such actions bring us any closer to a solution?
The only people who will respond yes to both these questions are those who advocate ethnic cleansing and/or genocide as the solution. Sadly, many Israelis and Jews are beginning to advocate exactly these, which explains why promulgating this myth is so important to them. One of the many sad lessons of the 20th century is that in the modern world, genocide needs a “moral” and legal prop before it is undertaken.
Tags: Israeli Politics, Propaganda