The key to peace
Friday, May 9th, 2008Martin Chulov; 8/5/08
In the heart of a grey refugee camp surrounded by dog-eared photos of dead men, on the eve of Israel’s 60th Independence Day today, a crippled old Arab warlord sits reflecting on the future of his one-time sworn enemy. Mohammed Ghawanmeh with a framed picture of deceased Palestinian Authority and Fatah leader Yasser Arafat. Picture: Stewart Innes Mohammed Ghawanmeh is the type of Palestinian who Israelis hope holds the key to the next six decades and beyond. Like others in the Jalazone refugee camp, near the West Bank administrative capital of Ramallah, Ghawanmeh accepts that another, older key - that to the coveted family home in what is now Israel - is no longer of use to him. “We are not going back and we know it,” he says. “It is time to look to the future.”
