Robert Sugarman (Opinion, June 16) proposes a series of steps by Israel and the Palestinian Authority that he says will promote peace. He says Israel should declare “a settlement freeze,” give the PA more control over additional parts of Judea-Samaria, legalize 20,000 illegal Palestinian buildings that are in Israeli-controlled areas and permit “Palestinian municipal” rule in some neighborhoods of Jerusalem. None of these proposed concessions are mandated in the Oslo accords. Sugarman is demanding that Israel go above and beyond what it is obligated to do.
When it comes to the Palestinians, however, the only step Sugarman proposes is even less than what the PA is obligated to do under Oslo. He calls for “some movement toward tamping down, if not eliminating, the incitement” against Israel and Jews that appears in PA schools, mosques and media. But the Oslo accords do not require the PA to merely “tamp down” incitement; they require the PA to halt incitement completely and immediately.
Before asking Israel to make concessions that go beyond the Oslo accords, let’s start demanding the PA fulfill the obligations it undertook more than 20 years ago. No meaningful peace can ever be achieved if the Palestinians won’t even honor the agreements they have already signed.
Vice president, Religious Zionists of America
Stephen Flatow is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995.
