Quote of the day
"We are surprised at the hastiness of wanting to recognize Israel."
Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri.
Frankly, this whole "recognize" thing is a little silly. Imagine Yasser Arafat walking up to someone in the 1970s. "No, I don't recognize him," the politically correct person would say. "I don't have any idea who that guy is." But times changed by 1988:
Mayor Andrew Young, who was forced more than nine years ago to resign as the chief United States delegate to the United Nations for meeting with a representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization, today applauded the American decision to initiate contacts with the P.L.O....
The meeting in a Manhattan apartment between Mr. Young and the P.L.O.'s United Nations observer aroused fear in Israel and in the United States that the Carter Administration was embarking on some accommodation with the group and breaking with its longstanding policy.
In my view, recognition does not equate with agreement.
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