Editor,
In his column published in the Daily Lobo on Wednesday, Matthew Chavez makes two assertions that miss the mark.
The first assertion concerns the creation of a Palestinian state and the author's statement that "Israeli officials rejected the generous offer - peace for partial deoccupation - Palestinian negotiators presented them at the beginning of 2001."
In fact, the beginning of 2001 marked the final gasp of intense negotiations that began on July 14, 2000, at Camp David, lasted 14 days and involved Palestinian and Israeli negotiators, including Ehud Barak, Yasser Arafat, former President Bill Clinton and his advisers.
The final product of these negotiations is summarized in the Clinton parameters, so named because it reflected what Clinton felt it would take to bring the two sides together.
The parameters presented by President Clinton to the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on Dec. 23, 2000, included "... between 94 and 96 percent of (contiguous) West Bank territory to the Palestinian state with a land swap of 1 to 3 percent ..." and a sharing of Jerusalem with "Palestinian sovereignty over the Haram, and Israeli sovereignty over the Western Wall and the Holy of Holies of which it is a part ..."
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The entire set of parameters was accepted by Barak on Dec. 27, 2000, and also supported by most leaders of Arab states. It was rejected by Arafat. Subsequent attempts spilling into January 2001 could not bring Arafat around. This day-by-day drama is recorded in The Missing Peace by Dennis Ross, who was deeply involved in the negotiations.
The column's second dubious assertion is that Israeli colonization of Palestinian land is the cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But prior to 1967, there was no occupation. Yet, the conflict raged.
I believe the conflict is due to powerful forces in the Middle East that seek Israel's elimination and Israel's refusal to comply.
George Skadron
Daily Lobo reader
