Akiva Eldar to Amy Goodman: Ninety years later, the Arabs are completing what Balfour started. And .. this is the best news that we had in 90 years

".....AKIVA ELDAR: You know, in November, we are going to celebrate ninety years of the Balfour Declaration, which was the first most important document offering a Jewish state to the Jewish people, a state in Israel. I think that the Arab League declaration ninety years later is closing the circle that started, because the Balfour war -- the Balfour Declaration started actually another round of violence, because the Arabs didn’t -- were not willing to accept the idea of a Jewish state. Ninety years later, the Arabs are completing what Balfour started. And I think that this is the best news that we had in ninety years. And I think it is not only stupid, I think it is criminal to miss this opportunity. And I hope that the generations who will come will not regret this.

AMY GOODMAN: Akiva Eldar, the chief diplomatic columnist and senior analyst for the Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz. He is co-author of a new book published on the fortieth anniversary of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. It's called Lords of the Land: The Settlers and the State of Israel. We interviewed Akiva Eldar when he came into our studio. "