Chemi Shalev Quotations

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 won't have an agreement.

He has shocked the entire Israeli political community. But we have learned from his time as prime minister that many of his moves fall flat and he emerges as the loser.

He said he should be judged by the results he's achieved ... and according to that test, he's failed in his first year.

I think in the past week we have already reached new lows.

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.

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.

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

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 doesn't seem to be in such good shape anyway. It's teetering on the brink of collapse, even before today's decision. This will bring it one step closer to final collapse.

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 that's never happened before. I think, however, in the short term, if we judge it in political terms, it's not going to have much of an effect.

As one of his aides once said, he has antifreeze in his blood... He is a very cool character, and when you judge him by his public performances you would think that everything is hunky-dory and going great. But an analytical assessment of the situation shows he is in trouble, despite the brave face that he's putting on.

It seems that now Arafat may have an incentive to sign the agreement. Before, he was concerned that it would give Netanyahu the image of a peacemaker and would get him off the hook of international pressure. But now it seems such a thing won't happen even if Netanyahu does sign a Hebron agreement.

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

I don't 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.