James Woolsey, former Director of the CIA, in an interview with Israel National Radio, has spoken a blunt truth.
Asked his opinion on the establishment of a Palestinian state, the former CIA director recommended that it not happen in the coming decades. He said that though the Jewish presence in this region precedes the Moslem claim – “for some Muslims like Arafat to deny that Jews were ever present here is idiotic” – the Moslems also have national rights in the area.
Openly avoiding the question of the nature or borders of a Palestinian state, he emphasized his opinion that “the Palestinians should not be granted the right to statehood until they start to treat Israeli Jews who settle in the West Bank as fairly as Israel treats its Muslim citizens.”
“An Arab Muslim living in Jaffa,” Woolsey said, “enjoys freedom of speech, religion, and expression, and can vote for his representatives in the Knesset, and doesn’t go to sleep worrying that some government element might come and kill him. I think that once the Palestinians start treating Jewish settlers with that same degree of humanity – and they’re very, very far from doing that now – at that point I think we have to seriously consider how they could have some degree of self-governing. I won’t get into the question of borders, but what I think is that the Palestinians must be held to the same standards as Israel regarding how they treat the other. I am sure this will be many decades from now, though, because their children are taught the Wahhabi doctrine of being suicide bombers and the like.”
Woolsey also says, of involving Syria and Iran in discussion about the Middle East:
Traiman: “There are continuous calls for American troop withdrawals from Iraq; the unilateral withdrawal idea is back on the table here in Israel; and talks with Syria are again being pushed. Why are we playing the appeasement card?”Woolsey: “Appeasement isn’t called playing a card – it’s just folding. I think those steps that you just mentioned are most unwise. Talking to Syria and negotiating should be done only when one has leverage… Unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank would not be a wise step for Israel to take; when one sees what happened in Gaza, and sees the political advantage that Hamas has taken of the situation to claim unilateral victory and now to be part of the PA government – how many failures do you need before you recognize that it’s a failure?”
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I hope the Olmert Government is listening to Director Woolsey.
I also wonder why the Senate is not listening to former CIA Director Woolsey as they proceed to issue a Resolution, even though non-binding, that will give comfort and hope to our enemy while our troops are in harms way. A despicable act, in my view.
In a separate interview, James Woolsey says that
The Israeli-Palestinian peace process was a “scam” during the 1990s and because of that Washington should not be pushing Israel to make a “land for peace deal” now.Bush is the first U.S. leader to publicly back the idea of a “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But former CIA director James Woolsey said this week the U.S. should learn from past experience. Until something changes in the P.A. there would not be an Israeli-Palestinian deal, he said.
BEAR TO THE RIGHT 