Steve Rothman: “If I can offer my agreement, Yasser Arafat is a terrorist. He is no Boy Scout. But that does not mean that he cannot…”

“If I can offer my agreement, Yasser Arafat is a terrorist. He is no Boy Scout. But that does not mean that he cannot make peace and be a partner in peace if he chooses. The problem is, so far, since 1948, since Israel was recognized by the United Nations, America, all the major nations of the world as an independent state and an independent country, since the Palestinians rejected their own state offered by the U.N. in 1947, Arafat has never said, never, we are prepared to live in peace next to the state of Israel, the Jewish state; never once. The interesting point would be, what if Arafat said that in English and Arabic? What if all the other leaders of the Arab world were to say, you know, that is all that Israel has been asking for for the last 55 years of its existence, notwithstanding the fact that we in the Arab world have tried to drive these Jews into the sea for the last 55 years, without success. All the Israelis have ever said they want is to live in peace with their Arab neighbors. All they want from their Arab neighbors is a pledge to live in peace with them. When Egypt made that offer, there is now a peace between Egypt and Israel, and Lebanon and Israel, and Jordan and Israel, albeit there are still some radical terrorists in Lebanon, fomented by Syria to try to stir things up.”