Israeli politicians are very good at negotiating with themselves. Shaul Mofaz is not much different. The Mofaz plan that apparently helped propel him to the top of the Kadima party suggests that Israel would cede some 10 percent of the territories in the West Bank as a first step towards the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state.
Before doing that, however, Palestinians must fulfill conditions -- but Mofaz's conditions (recognizing Israel, abandoning terrorism and accepting past agreements) have already been met by the Palestine Liberation Organization in both word and deed so it is unclear whether these conditions are indeed being demanded of the PLO or Hamas. Mofaz suggests that the international community "guarantee" further Israeli withdrawals to the 1967 borders, including land swaps.
The basic concept of this proposal is faulty because it assumes that Palestinians would trust the state of Israel and trust that the state of Israel would respect international guarantees. Israel's record on both is very weak; as such, Mofaz was unable to find any serious Palestinian to accept his plan. The idea that temporary borders can remain just that is the biggest hurdle for Palestinians to swallow. Palestinian ears are still ringing with the prophetic statement made by Yitzhak Shamir around the time of the Madrid Peace conference in 1992 when he said that he would drag negotiations out for 10 years. In fact, his prediction has been doubled. It has been 20 years and the reality on the ground has not changed.
Moreover, the idea that, every time Israel has to carry out a withdrawal that is part of a signed agreement, it should request some kind of reciprocation from Palestinians is illogical. In the Oslo process, Palestinians were promised a five-year transitional period. While the accords were signed in a White House ceremony in 1993, it took another year to work out the details and by all accounts Israel was to cede the occupied territories in 1999. That never happened. Instead Palestinians were dragged against their will to Camp David to renegotiate an agreement that they thought was already signed, sealed, and delivered.
Israel's newest party leader has some interesting attributes. He comes from a military background, a prerequisite in Israeli eyes for making political concessions. He also belongs to the oriental Sephardic Jewish community rather than the European one that has largely ruled Israel since its foundation. Mofaz leads a party that has been on the record as supporting the peace process. Its founder, Ariel Sharon, coined the term "hafrada" ("separation") to justify Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, which was supposed to be the prelude to a similar disengagement of Israel's ugly occupation from the West Bank.
Ehud Olmert, who followed Sharon, came closest to reaching a withdrawal agreement only to be removed from his position on the basis of a civilian court case against him.
If Mofaz wants to win the confidence of Palestinians, the path is very clear. As in cases of chronic alcoholism or other types of substance abuse, the way forward begins with an admission of the problem followed by active steps to remedy it. Israeli leaders from the left and right continue to stick their heads in the sand and deny that they as an occupying power are the guilty party and that they have caused the perpetuation of the conflict. This is not a case that calls for reciprocity. Rather, tough and courageous decisions need to be made.
The very first of these decisions must be the direction the Israeli army is taking in the occupied territories in dealing with Palestinians and in dealing with Israelis. Israel must demonstrate through action that it is beginning to dismantle its multifaceted machine for occupying another people. The beginning of the end of occupation also requires telling Israelis that the settlement enterprise runs contrary to peace. You can't begin to reverse expansionist settlement policies if settlers, their ideologies, their financial support and those promoting them are not told clearly and directly that they have no future on land that is destined to be the Palestinian state.
Shaul Mofaz's plan might have been good enough to get him more votes than Tzipi Livni and could appear to a naive follower of the Middle East as reasonable. But a quick check of its content and the question marks it leaves unanswered make it no better than most plans in which Israelis have negotiated amongst themselves, ending up nowhere.
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If crazed Hamas, who the Palestinian majority elected, want never-ending holy war jihad against Israel, but Israel recognizes this and defends itself and waits for sane people, to make peace with, it isn't the Palestinians' fault, ever!
Israel has SOME NERVE for defending itself, continuing to develop, and waiting for the neighbors to come up with sane leaders that can be made peace with! Some nerve!
Israel needs to do something about them if they want peace and that will require a major effort on the part of Israel.
The settlers are as fanatical as Hamas.
Just look at them, how is Israel to make any peace while hamas is busy arresting palestinians under the suspicion that they spread rumors about hamas! Who is representing the palestinians? whom is Israel to negotiate with? is there a partner? a viable one that represents all the palestinians?
The late Albert Einstein said that Madness is doing the same thing twice and expecting different results. Indeed, every single time the prospects of two states for two peoples have been entertained seriously and officially, beginning with the 1936 Peel Commission, through the 1947 UN partition resolution, through the 1992 Oslo accords and then at the 2000 Barak-Arafat-Clinton Camp David summit, followed by the 2007 Annapolis conference, every single one of those attempts ended in rivers of blood.
It is a guaranteed, indisputable law of History, supported by thousands of dead bodies of Arabs and Jews: the mere senior-level discussion of a two state solution, never mind the enactment of it, is a recipe for war.
Yet these three gentlemen are tenacious in their insistence that “Israel can and must take constructive steps to advance the reality of two states based on the 1967 borders, with land swaps — regardless of whether Palestinian leaders have agreed to accept it.”
He doesn't like Mofaz's plan? Fine. Present an alternate plan! That how negotiations happen and things get resolved.
Instead, what he advocates is complete Israeli capitulation to Palestinian demands. When he can't even pay lip service to israeli security concerns, you should really doubt his sincerity.
If the Palestinians want peace, they need to make some concessions themselves. At a minimum they should come back to negotiations.
For those of us who KNOW, the reality of Israel/Palestine makes inaction impossible. For those with a conscience and a desire for fairness, we can not and will not remain silent in the face of the suffering of innocents. But so often our efforts are thwarted by the powerful forces which strive to silence us or who can manipulate the discussion. Your very truthful report will hopefully open eyes and cause a broader discussion of whether we can continue to support the ongoing policies of the Israeli government. We seekers of a peaceful resolution for all people of the region, are grateful to you
Second, you have no clue what's going on in that region, you've never been there, nor will you ever see Israel. You can't afford it.
I am one of those Palestinian Christians living inside Israel to whom Oren refers. At no time in my life have I ever felt the 'respect and appreciation' by the Jewish state, which Oren so glowingly references. Israel's Christian minority is marginalized in much the same manner as its Muslim one or, at best, quietly tolerated. We suffer the same discrimination when we try to find a job, when we go to hospitals, when we apply for bank loans, and when we get on the bus -- in the same way as Palestinian Muslims.
Israel's fundamental basis is as a racist state built for Jews only, and the majority of the Jewish population doesn't really care what religion we are if we're not Jewish. In my daily dealings with the State, all I have felt is rudeness and overt contempt.
Oren's statement that 'The extinction of the Middle East's Christian communities is an injustice of historic magnitude' is outright shocking to anyone familiar with even the basic history of how Israel was founded. I would like to remind him and others that this founding expelled thousands of Palestinian Christians from their homes in 1948 and displaced them, either forcing them to flee across the border or making them internal refugees.
The return of people like Maher has been made impossible by Israel, which refuses to negotiate on the right of refugees to return to their homeland. If Oren is so concerned for Palestinian Christians, would he kindly give the green light for the return of Christian refugees from Iqrith, Bir'im, Tarshiha, Suhmata, Haifa, Jaffa, and tens of other Palestinian towns and villages that they were expelled from in 1948? The answer, I assure you, is no. Many of these refugees are living in refugee camps in nearby countries, where Israel and Oren are happy to leave them
But seems like Maher is an Israeli, so this is another story.
Is there a housing shortage in Israel? Yes, and let me tell you that it is more severe in Tel Aviv than in Rama. That being said, Arab Israelis do suffer hostility and some discrimination, but this is a direct result from the strategic choice most of them, and their political and religious leadership took when while Israeli citizens, they actively support the state's enemies and aiding them.
One cannot hold the rope from both sides. Palestinians should have learned that lesson from 1947-8 when they tried to wipe out the Jews, and than wining about getting the country they refused to establish. grow up and take responsibility on your own actions instead of blaming others.
The author also suggests that the Palestinians don't trust Israel.. What a laugh that is, its just the opposite of the reality. Why should Israel trust the PALs, who have done nothing to prove their trustworthiness. Come on guys, How do you stop half a war. No peace will occur until the Arabs recognize Israel and are willing to have serious, unconditional talks.
What is this approach to human phenomenon is called in the English languages...??
Is it not a form of racism, anti-Jewish racism in this case...??