Chemi Shalev Quotes on Agreements (4 Quotes)

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.

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 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.

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.