Michal Eskenazi
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What do you think about former peace processes?
I don't think they failed completely, even though we're disappointed with the outcome. Fundamentally, they made us go through a very significant process and changed many things here. In terms of the social change, which is much harder to create, we are in the midst of doing this now. I studied the inside process - how it was run - because I studied what went on behind the scenes during negotiations at Camp David, Taba and Stockholm during the years 1997-2001. I learned how things are really run and it offered many of the answers I sought. Besides the political games and the fact that sometimes the political powers were the determining force instead of the educated and knowledgeable people, only the near future was considered. People were thinking only a second ahead without looking to see what was taking place on the other side, without investigating the scenario for what would happen there. I'm not claiming here that the Palestinian side was blameless; I am criticizing our side and saying, things were being run in a very disappointing and generally amateur-like manner, without thinking ahead. Nobody was listening to people who were able to think a little beyond the immediate present. Nobody listened to the other side.