Foriegn Policy In Focus ran an article on January 12, 2009, citing a Ha'aretz article that unveiled the results of an internal investigation of the Israeli Military Intelliegence.
I'm admittedly naive on most issues related to the I/P conflict, but I wanted to share the articles since a search didn't show any discussion on this yet.
I'll leave any discussions to those more directly involved and more experienced on the subject. I do enjoy reading well thought arguments from all sides, so I encourage a healthy debate.
From FPIF:
Does Israeli Intelligence Lie?
"All of the suffering in Gaza — indeed, all of the suffering endured by Palestinians under Israeli occupation for the last eight years — could have been avoided if Israel negotiated a peace agreement with Yasser Arafat when it had the chance, in 2001.
What chance? The official Israeli position is that there was no chance, "no partner for peace." That’s what Israeli leaders heard from their Military Intelligence (MI) service in 2000 after the failure of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations at Camp David. Arafat scuttled those talks, MI told the leaders, because he was planning to set off a new round of violence, a second intifada.
Now former top officials of MI say the whole story, painting Arafat as a terrorist out to destroy Israel, was an intentional fiction. That’s the most explosive finding in an investigative report just published in Israel’s top newspaper, Ha’aretz, by one of its finest journalists, Akiva Eldar."
Ha'aretz report:
Military Intelligence: Never expected Hamas victory in 2006
"It was not until 2008 that the internal investigation was conducted [requested in 2002 by Colonel Ephraim Lavie], under the tutelage of the current DMI, Major General Amos Yadlin. Its findings, which are being publicized here for the first time, are that MI suffers from knowledge gaps, a dearth of resources and a lack of group thinking, and that it speaks in two voices. The written voice is intended for internal control and potential commissions of inquiry; the oral voice, which is not documented, is for the senior political level.
...
"[I]n order to provide the policymakers with optimal tools to make decisions, the MI research unit became an instrument in the politicians' propaganda campaign."
The US is starting a process of change and reform after eight years of similar propoganda and unethcial politicization of intelligence reports. While Americans hope their will be a positive change in the US, is their hope for change in Israel with their leadership and policy on the I/P conflict?