The peacemakers must ask themselves whether all the bana preaching and Hail Marys and grovelling in the world will make the slightest dent in the mindset underlying the declaration. The Recurring Weaknesses Time now to look back soberly on what went wrong. Common factors emerge from the three peacemaking fiascos and their backgrounds. Governments have adopted two extreme and opposite approaches - either negotiating in secret, creating suspicions of skullduggery, or going in with much fanfare, creating high expectations of peace, thereby putting pressure on themselves to deliver something, anything. There has been no evidence of well-prepared, professional negotiations, and knowledgeable, tough negotiators on the Sri Lankan side.
Peacemakers are ignorant of such basic knowledge as the variety of fake alternatives to Eelam.
Among the aliases for Eelam are the Thimpu principles, a settlement based on the principle of equality and dignity for the Tamils , the devolution package, and confederation. On closer examination, these sometimes harmless-sounding terms turn out to be Eelam in sheep s clothing. The peacemakers are invited to probe these terms for themselves, and ascertain what the LTTE means by them. In the quest for peace, we have concentrated so heavily on appeasement that we have neglected national priorities such as sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the concerns of the majority. We do not seem to know what our own bottom line is.