May 2013

Gershon Baskin can be optimistic when all others are profoundly depressed, which is how he’s managed to stay in the peace biz so long.

Gershon Baskin, discussing the Role of Third Parties in Israel and Palestine, indicated a lack of effective mechanisms for resolutions of disputes, dealing with breaches of agreements and encouragement to implement agreed upon solutions as major failures of the Oslo process. Development of these mechanisms is, according to Baskin, a major task for the third party in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Gershon Baskin claims that Israel has complained that the Arab peace initiative doesn’t take into account changes that have happened on the ground since 1967, but with the the Arab League agreeing to the principle of territorial swaps, they have in fact adopted what was the position of George W. Bush in his famous letter to Ariel Sharon.