Amid signs of a faint thaw in Israeli-Palestinian relations, details are emerging of an Israeli Government memo which admits that Israel failed to honour key obligations under the stalled 'road map' for peace.
Leaked to Reuters, as Palestinian MPs were endorsing a new prime minister and a fresh push for peace, the memo says that instead of honouring its commitment to evacuate new Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Israel had 'sought in every way to whitewash their existence and build more'.
The news agency says the memo, leaked by 'government sources', concluded Israel lacked international credibility because of its failure to follow the road map or come up with its own 'creative ideas' to end the conflict.
News of the memorandum's existence follows recent Israeli Government decisions to build hundreds of new homes in existing settlements and extend recognition and support to several new 'outpost' settlements slated for demolition under the road map.
The Roadmap is probably dead anyway, but this memo gives the lie to people who try and make the Israeli/Palestinian conflict into either angelic Israelis attacked by satanic Arabs or some kind of eternal law that has existed since time immemorial (or 1947 whichever last happened).
Some time soon one of these peace plans will work. That is because it will contain commitments to human rights and enforcement mechanisms though the UN or NATO. Until then we'll keep on getting fabrications and evasions from both sides.
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