Quotes by Chemi Shalev

“No Israeli public will support an Israeli prime minister who is seen as needlessly entering into a confrontation with the United States.”

“I dont think Mr. Sharon has given up his hope of achieving the ultimate post of prime minister. As long as he has these ambitions, I think he will be a danger to Mr. Netanyahu.”

“The Arafat-Clinton summit is critical because it will show whether we are moving towards a summit which might yield an agreement or whether we are moving towards deadlock, which will lead to confrontation.”

“The peace process doesnt seem to be in such good shape anyway. Its teetering on the brink of collapse, even before todays decision. This will bring it one step closer to final collapse.”

“Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Arafat are at cross-purposes here. Mr. Netanyahu wants to tell his people that he has achieved a better agreement, with much better safeguards for Israelis. But the more he brags about his own achievement, the less desirable this agreement becomes for Mr. Arafat. Unless the two sides can indeed make the political decision to reach an agreement despite their own internal political achievements, we wont have an agreement.”

“Successive American administrations have declared peace in the Middle East is an American strategic interest, and one assumes that for an American strategic interest, Americans pay.”

“Psychologically, in the long term, this could have a very profound impact in the sense that Israelis are grieving for an Arab monarch or identifying with an Arab nation, something thats never happened before. I think, however, in the short term, if we judge it in political terms, its not going to have much of an effect.”

“I think Mr. Sharon at this point in time seems to be more generous concerning the establishment of a Palestinian state, less generous concerning the territories the Palestinian state will control.”

“The issue of releasing Palestinian prisoners is very unpopular in Israel, and if he goes too far, hell suffer more than by his failure to reach an agreement.”

“I think he feels that he is in a crisis. He is behaving like a general in a battle.”