NEWS FEATURE: "Right to return" biggest stumbling block to peace

On a visit to Ireland this week Ben-Dror Yemini, a former political adviser turned Israeli journalist, agreed to a questions and answers session with the Irish Examiner on Israeli/Arab relations and events in the the wider middle east.

Ben-Dror Yemini is the opinion editor of the Tel Aviv based daily newspaper, Maariv. A former political adviser his book, Political Punch, is a critique of politics and society in Israel. He has published numerous articles about the Israeli-Arab conflict in which he has argued for a “two peoples two states solution” to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and suggested that "anti-Zionism is politically correct anti-Semitism". He spoke to the Irish Examiner in advance of an address at Univesity College Cork.

Dolan O’Hagan: I am going to cut to the chase with my opening question Ben-Dror. In the eyes of many Irish people the attitude of the Israeli leadership in relation to its various border conflicts mirror those seen in some unionist leaders in the north of Ireland prior to the peace process there, i.e. an intransigent "we have what we hold" attitude and a determined unwillingness to compromise. How do you respond to that charge?