I think Jonathan's take on this is pretty much on target. That said, I'm very troubled by the fact that if the Israeli government is setting this as the initial bar it's not hard to look into the future and see any peace settlement as fantastically expensive. I mean anyone who's paid attention to this has long known that, but the scale of these numbers really shines a blinding light on that fact. And if the US eventually gets corralled into an international group that facilitates this kind of thing I'm going to be more than a little unhappy at subsidizing (albeit long after the fact) right-wing settlement policies. Still, if it can move the peace process forward and help change attitudes in the region ... well, this might be the best step in the right direction we can hope for.
Posted by armand at September 14, 2004 07:52 PM | TrackBack | Posted to International Affairs