Words of the Week: Bret Stephens
“But the important point is not whether you’re for a democratic Israel or you’re for a Palestinian state. The important question is how that Palestinian state is going to come into being, whether it’s going to be a — it’s going to come into being in a negotiated and peaceful way and, also, what the character of that state is going to be in the future.
Is that state going to be a progressive, forward-looking, liberal-minded state that really wants to live in peace with Israel or is it going to be another miniature of Lebanon or Iran or another state the sort of remains irredeemably intent on destroying what remains of Israel.
That’s the issue. It’s like needing an operation. Just because you need an operation, I think both Peter [Beinart] and I can agree that, at some point, Israel might need an operation, doesn’t mean that you just take out the hack saw and cut off your leg because otherwise you’re faced with the possibility of the cancer spreading.”
Source: Fareed Zakaria GPS. I watched this on Sunday and I thought that in these lines, Stephens captured something significant. (Emphasis in the second paragraph is mine.)