Mr. Cheney Goes to Jerusalem

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Vice President Dick Cheney, on his visit to the Middle East, made strong statements on the extremists and on the stalled peace process.
He correctly singled out the extremists’ camp in Gaza, Syria and Iran and the need to confront them.
He also stated that peace requires “tremendous effort” and “painful concessions on both sides.”
To deal effectively with the extremists, the reality on the ground has to be changed and the moderates have to be empowered. It is not enough to confront those who leverage the misery of the Palestinians for their own political agendas. It is important to change the Palestinian reality on the ground- a reality that presents ample opportunity to the extremists. One only hopes that Mr. Cheney was as forceful on the peace part of the equation as he was on the confronting extremists' theme.

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