As wonderful and nice a man as Dennis Ross is, everyone is afraid to state the obvious: fact that his judgments on diplomacy and his actual diplomatic missions have almost all been failures in regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (“Ross Urges Israel To Be ‘Proactive’ With PA,” Aug. 24).
Ross is a diplomat and sees diplomacy as the first and almost always the only answer. He believes all parties will eventually come to the table and, in good faith and in their own self-interest, negotiate and compromise. If only it were so, there would have been a Palestinian state already. The issue is so clear but Ross cannot utter the words.
This is an existential issue, not a diplomatic or territorial one. Dar el Islam (the House of Islam) will not accept a Jewish state on previous Muslim land. So really thinking out of the box, he should propose a long-term ceasefire, say 500 years, which they might actually sign. It is more realistic than what he proposes. I wish it were not so.
Director, Middle East Political and Information Network
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