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Originally Posted by donsutherland1  G-Man,
As I have argued in the past, reciprocity is key to success with respect to agreements. One side simply cannot reasonably expect that when it fails to honor its obligations that the other side will do so. That's the way human nature is. |
Somebody has to 'go first' for there to be reciprocity. To stop building new settlements requires Israel to do exactly NOTHING - why is this so hard for it to do? It would seem to be a very easy step for Israel to do - if the Palestinians do not then offer something back then Israel can say they are complying but the Palestinians are not - but quite simply this has not happened yet.
Also, the road map is not dependent upon reciprocity. Israel has failed to comply with its requirements and the Palestinians have failed to comply with their requirements. You mention the later consistently but fail to recognize the former.
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In my opinion, if the Palestinians seek Israel to let's say cease new settlement construction, the Palestinians will need to give Israel something substantive in return e.g., something to address Israel's security needs such as initiating a campaign to disarm Hamas, among other options.
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Hamas is the government - a policy to ask a government to disarm is a non-starter. What is required is a change in the Hamas position re: Israel - such things are normally achieved through negotiations and discussions yet you criticize Abbas for doing this and argue that Israel should never do this.
The peace agreement used to be 'land for peace' but it now seems Israel wants the land before peace in my opinon. If they ever stop their settlement expansion programmes then I think that would be a good demonstration of their good faith and may bring more support for their position.