Media Contact:
Reid Oslin
oslin@bc.edu
617-552-3630
"Prime Minister Netanyahu's acceptance in his speech yesterday [6/14/09] of the idea of a Palestinian state is a belated but major development as it provides 'fuel' for the US drive for a diplomatic settlement of the conflict. It also indicates that Netanyahu is amenable to pressure; until yesterday he opposed a 'two state solution.' The fact that Netanyahu heads a right-wing government is a big advantage as the previous center-left government talked generously but was too weak to deliver. The conditions stated by Netanyahu for creation of a Palestinian state were essential to keeping his coalition together.
"But let's not forget that these are positions ahead of a negotiation and hardly a last word. Following his initial concession there will be further concessions in the dynamic give-and-take of a negotiation in which the Palestinians, too, have their irreducible needs and in which the ultimately the United States won't take 'no' for an answer."
Prof. Raymond Cohen, who is spending the 2008-09 academic year as Corcoran Visiting Professor at the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College, has lived in Israel since 1968. He has been chair of the Department of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and director of the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations at the same institution.
Direct Contact: Office: 617-552-6027; cohenrr@bc.edu