Interior Minister Yosef Burg said today that Israel’s invasion of Lebanon might create better conditions for the successful pursuit of the autonomy negotiations.
Burg, who heads Israel’s autonomy negotiations team, said in an Army Radio interview that many residents of the West Bank have concluded that the war in Lebanon proved the Palestine Liberation Organization and its political line to be worthless. They recognize that the path chosen by the PLO has resulted in “a tragedy for the Arabs, for the people in Lebanon,” Burg said.
He suggested therefore that the Palestinians in the occupied territories now see the autonomy negotiations as their best hope. Now that the PLO has been defeated, there is a better chance to find Palestinian moderates willing to negotiate, Burg said.
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