Annapolis could be a waste of time

Daniel Pipes weighs in, as usual, with common sense, this time about the Annapolis Middle East Peace Summit, which begins later this morning:

Surprisingly, something useful has emerged from the combination of the misconceived Annapolis meeting and a weak Israeli prime minister, Ehud ("Peace is achieved through concessions") Olmert. Breaking with his predecessors, Olmert has boldly demanded that his Palestinian bargaining partners accept Israel's permanent existence as a Jewish state, thereby evoking a revealing response.

Unless the Palestinians recognize Israel as "a Jewish state," Olmert announced on November 11, the Annapolis-related talks would not proceed. "I do not intend to compromise in any way over the issue of the Jewish state. This will be a condition for our recognition of a Palestinian state."

In my opinion, even if, and that's a big if, Palestinian leaders firmly agree to a recognition of Israel, that may not be the happy ending many are looking for here.

Egypt recognized Israel in the late 1970s, agreed to peace, yet its media regularly spews anti-Semitic lies. In 2003, state-run television broadcast the mini-series Horseman Without a Horse, based on the Czarist-era Russian anti-Semitic hoax, Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

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