Peacemaking Demands Peacemakers

I recently wrote in these pages about the need for Israel to stop settlement construction in the West Bank, and for the Arab world to take real responsibility in ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While immensely important, additional measures by all parties need to be undertaken as well. This third article of a four part series (see here and here) will highlight some of the other qualities that peace requires, primarily vision and courage.

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In politics, as in business, leadership is crucial. Much of what has gone wrong in the pursuit of Arab-Israeli peace is due to a lack of strong leadership, primarily among the Palestinians. While there is still a lot Israel can do - especially current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - we shouldn't be under any illusions: there is still not an effective and strong Palestinian partner on the other side capable of delivering on a two-state solution.

Starting from the time of Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, it is clear that what peace demands is vision and courage. My old friend Yitzhak Rabin broke many taboos when he signed the Oslo Accords and embarked on the path of peace. I was in attendance in the Rose Garden when Rabin shook Yasser Arafat's hand; it was the epitome of courage in the pursuit of a peaceful vision. Like Sadat, Rabin paid the ultimate price at the hands of a religious fundamentalist.

More recently, Ariel Sharon took the unprecedented step of unilaterally removing the settlements from the Gaza Strip. Before 2005, not many people believed it likely that Sharon of all people would take such a step. However, he was convinced by his closest associates that if Israel retained control of the territories, then eventually Arabs would outnumber Jews between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. This would effectively spell the end of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

We will never know how a healthy Sharon would have carried on the withdrawals from the rest of the occupied territories. What happened in Gaza after Israel's disengagement made such a move impossible. After all, the moderate Fatah party of Mahmoud Abbas lost the 2006 parliamentary elections to the rejectionist Hamas. Hamas followed this up by violently seizing control of Gaza itself. The rest we all know: over 3,000 rockets raining down on Israeli civilians, military retaliation on the part of Israel, and even more bloodshed.

But this shouldn't have surprised us. For years Yasser Arafat ran the Palestinian Authority as a corrupt personal fiefdom. The mismanagement of the Palestinians' affairs under Fatah explains a lot about Hamas' increased popularity and strength. The only remedy is better leadership and reformed governance on the part of moderate Palestinian leaders.

Despite recent security, political and economic improvements in the West Bank, there is still much work to be done on the part of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. A written plan for statehood is one thing; changing the endemic culture of corruption and division inside the Palestinian Authority quite another, and will take time.

In addition, in the occupied territories Abbas only controls half of the Palestinians; the other half is controlled by Hamas, a terrorist group that has yet to even recognize Israel's right to exist. But even in the West Bank, governed by Abbas, there are plans apparently in place to name streets after terrorists and murderers. Even worse, the recent Fatah Congress in Bethlehem inexplicably perpetuated the foolish notion of "armed struggle," with one news report describing a large poster of a child with a gun being displayed prominently at the conference.

Taken together, is it any surprise that negotiations with Israel have not been able to move forward? For the Palestinians, there is still no real leadership, no one who speaks for all of them, and no one who can get them the state they so desperately want. This must change.

The Arab world, specifically the oil-rich Gulf states, and the international community under the coordination of Tony Blair, need to help Abbas develop better systems of governance. Serious amounts of money - already pledged but still not delivered - need to be infused for economic development projects and jobs in the West Bank in order to bolster Abbas' legitimacy. US envoy George Mitchell needs to continue emphasizing the central roles that an end to corruption and reformed leadership must play in any realistic peace process. And, for their part, Palestinian leaders need to speak out consistently and courageously for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has accepted a two-state solution to the conflict, with conditions. While not perfect, this has to be viewed as a courageous step on his part. More will hopefully be forthcoming.

Palestinian leaders need to reciprocate and lay out their own vision for peace. Raising points of contention over final status issues, like Jerusalem, even before they have shown the slightest ability to manage their own affairs and credibly implement agreements, needs to be remedied going forward.

Based on the Gaza precedent, Israel should not simply be expected to withdraw from territory and let it devolve into a state of anarchy. The West Bank is simply too close to Israel's major population centers and infrastructure to allow it to become another launching pad for rockets. A credible Palestinian government needs to be in control, guaranteeing that a future Palestinian state not be taken over by terrorists. An essential precondition to any of this is courageous and visionary leadership.

 

Comments

[Thelonius]

Between passage of the nonbinding UN Partition Plan (Nov. 29/47) and the declaration of the state of Israel on May 14/48, Jewish militia had already expelled over 300,000 Palestinians, necessitating reluctant intervention by outnumbered and outgunned Arab League state armies to stem the accelerating eviction of Palestinians. In the ensuing war, Israel expelled a further 500,000 Palestinians, destroyed 450 of their towns and villages and seized 72% of Palestine. Just prior to and during Israel's first invasion of Egypt in 1956 Israel expelled an additional 25,000 Palestinians. During and after the war it launched on 5 June 1967, Israel evicted a further 450,000 Palestinians, seized the rest of Palestine along with Syria's Golan Heights (drove out over 100,000 Syrian Druze), Lebanon's Shebaa Farms and Egypt's Sinai. While the Sinai was subsequently returned to Egypt, Israel continues to occupy all of its other 1967 conquests. As summarized by Ha'aretz, in his book The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (2000), renowned Israeli historian Avi Shlaim blames Israel for the ongoing conflict: "...based on facts, he surveys the history of Israel's contacts with the Arab world from 1948 to 2000, and states decisively...that the Israeli story that Israel has always stretched out its hand to peace, but there was nobody to talk to - is groundless. The Arabs have repeatedly outstretched a hand to peace - says Shlaim - and Israel has always rejected it. Each time with a different excuse." (Ha'aretz, August 11, 2005)

[WBMD]

OK Thelonius. Israel is bad. Israel aggressed. But Israel exists today, and will not give up its needed place as a state for the Jewish people. So, now what?

[Thelonius]

Simple: Israel should cease rejecting and finally accept the twice offered Arab League's 2002 Beirut Peace Initiative which grants Israel a formal peace treaty, full recognition, sovereignty, trade, exchange of ambassadors etc. if it complies with the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Fourth Geneva Convention, UNSC Res. 242 (all ratified by Israel) and withdraws to the internationally recognized boundaries of 4 June 1967 and agrees to help achieve a "just" solution to the Palestinian refugee problem in accordance with its commitment at the 1949 Lausanne Peace Conference and as declared before the UNGA as a pre-requisite for UN membership. In so doing, Israelis achieve a sovereign state made up of 78% of Palestine and the Palestinians a state comprised of only 22% of their original homeland with a corridor joining the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians have long since agreed to Israel having sovereignty over Jewish holy places in currently occupied East Jerusalem and to share the holy city as a joint capital. This can only be described as a truly generous offer.
Israel would do well to remember that time, demographics and the thrust of geopolitics are on the side of the Palestinians and other Arabs.

[Thelonius]

Correction: Due to a typo in my previous post, I wrote that during the 1948 war, Israel seized 72% of Palestine. In fact, Israeli forces seized 78% of Palestine in that war. My apologies.

[northstar11]

twenty two days nonstop bombing which targeted civilians sounds like terrorism ---i dont think it was done by palestinians.

[WBMD]

Actually it was 8 years of non-stop bombing. And yes, it was done by Palestinians. The response of israeli bombing was made as selective as possible, given that hamas had placed its command posts inside mosques and hospitals, and its arms inside private homes.

[Thelonius]

The rocket attacks from occupied Gaza started in 2001 and took their first Israeli victim in 2004. Since then, there had been 14 Israeli victims prior to Israel's Operation Cast Lead. While tragic, hardly comparable to the 1,700 Gaza Strip Palestinians, including many innocent bystanders, women and children, killed by Israel during the same period.

In violation of the terms of the 17 June 2008 cease-fire agreement with Hamas, Israel permitted only 20% of the amount of essentials agreed to into the Gaza Strip which led to sporadic rocket fire into Israel (causing no casualties) by Islamic Jihad and Fatah’s Al Aqsa Brigades, not Hamas, which attempted to stop the rockets. On November 4 – the day of the U.S. presidential election - Israel crossed the border and killed six Palestinians. Hamas responded with rocket fire but at the same time offered to extend the June 17 truce if Israel would end the siege. Israel refused. Hamas rocket fire resumed and although no Israeli was killed, it was used by Israel as a justification for its murderous rampage that started on December 27.

[milty]

I certainly cannot think of an army in history giving warning before an attack.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24855309-2,00.html

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3753851,00.html

[concerned USA citizen]

absolutely !!

[Bizupt]

I have to agree with some of the other commentators, that Israel has either imprisoned or assassinated the majority of possible Palestinian Leadership. When I was over in the West Bank the summer of 2007 I was able to meet the PA's elected Minister of Education who happened to be Hamas and also happened to be a moderate. Within a few hours of our introduction the Israeli's swooped in and arrested him in the middle of the night to join the other elected Palestinian leaders rotting in Israeli prisons. That's when it hit me, Israel was creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, if they lock up all of the Hamas moderates then the only folks left are extremists who Israel can point to and say, "look, all of Hamas are terrorists!"

I must also comment that the Palestinian leadership, such as Salam Fayyad, appear to have a very definite idea about what their future state will look like--even if the Israelis don't wish to acknowledge this. Obviously, their capital will be in East Jerusalem, and the borders will be on the 1967 green line with some land swaps of "equal" quality land to allow some Israeli settlements to be incorporated into Israel. The West Bank and Gaza will have to be joined in some manner and a contiguous Palestinian state with sovereignty of its borders, sea and airspace would have to be granted, along with a standing Palestinian military force to prevent further Israeli assaults on the state.

[WBMD]

For the sake of discussion, lets suppose that Israel grants you, and the Palestinians, all the above concessions.

What happens a month after the two state are set up, if there is an election, and hamas wins. Now firmly in power in gaza and the WB, Hamas surrounds Ben Gurion airport with anti-aircraft missiles, and start lobbing qassam rockets into Tel Aviv, claiming that ALL of Palestine is "oocupied territory" and must be returned to Muslim rule.

At that point, in you scenario, what happens next?

[Bizupt]

Okay, so how is Hamas going to make it to Tel Aviv? Their current armory can barely make it past Sderot. Please don't forget that Israel has the fifth largest installation of Nuclear arms in the world and is the only current nuclear power in the M.E. I believe that you are giving Hamas way too much credit here, even if the Palestinians have a standing army they won't have the military might of say, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, etc. Certainly not overnight, it may take them decades at the very least, and who knows what the relations between the two states will look like by then--once trade relations are created most governments don't want to rock the boat and interrupt their cash flow.

[HansB]

There is no lack of credible Palestinian "partners for peace". Unfortunately, they're kept in Israeli jails where they can't participate in the political process. If someone like Marwan Barghouti could run for office, life would be very difficult for both Hamas and the corrupt leaders of the PA like Abbas and Dahlan. And Israel would have one excuse less to keep things as they are.

[WBMD]

You mean the credible partner for peace, Marwan Barghouti who:
On May 20, 2004, he was convicted of 5 counts of murder - including authorizing and organizing the Sea Food Market attack in Tel Aviv in which 3 civilians inside Israel were killed. He was acquitted of 21 counts of murder in 33 other attacks for "lack of sufficient evidence." On June 6, 2004, he was sentenced to five life sentences for the five murders and 40 years imprisonment for the attempted murder.

[Freenation]

WBMD try reading this article, does this looks familiar:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/09/israel-foreign-ministry-media

[Ergon]

Whether you like it or not, the Palestinians and the Israelis have elected governments that will have to deal with each other.
Hamas and Likud are at least up front, unlike so called 'moderates' like Labor and Fatah.

[fdrrules]

nice peace of fluff,you claim to want a strong leader in palastine but everytime they get a strong leader Israel wants him removed so they can deal with a weaker opponent to steal yet more land.The rocket attacks increased with Israels enroachment of more land promised to palastine and the blockade of palastine cutting off water,food and medical supplies.to call israels latest slaughter the fault of the Palastinians is a tortured justification of the facts.

[S1m0n]

How about Israel worry about who's going to speak for it, and butt right out of trying to determine who's allowed to be in the opposite chair. Israel will wait for ever for a friend to negotiate with. If they were your friends, there'd be no reason to talk at all. If you want to make peace, you will have to talk to people who don't like you very much, and have excellent reasons for feeling that way.

Fomenting a coup, and Israel and the Bush administration did by inciting Fatah and President Mahmoud Abbas to refuse to cede power, despite losing a free election, is the cause of the present 'confusion' about who speaks for Palestine. Until another election, it's Hamas. If Israel wants ANYTHING to change, you have to talk to them. Abbas' term has expired, and Fatah's usurpation of control in the west bank is illegitimate. Neither can deliver the people, who ultimately are who has to be convinced. Israel keeps fantasizing that if you can only find the right 'partner', you can get him to say yes, and everything will be ok. That's not going to happen. Israel needs to make a deal with the most hostile, not the coziest Palestinian leader you know, and the reverse is true for Palestine. If getting Amos Oz's signature was all that needed to happen for peace to break out, it would have happened 30 years ago.

[WBMD]

What is there to speak to hamas about?

[S1m0n]

You want them to stop shooting. They want you to stop shooting. Neither of you shoot because you are crazy, or evil. You shoot because you don't like their price to stop, and they're not fond of yours, either. But everyone knows almost to the letter what is going to be in the deal when it's signed. What the only viable peace agreement will look like is, thankfully, the one part of this situation that isn't a mystery. Think Geneva.

If you don't take that deal, as Shamir and Ohlmert both told you in recent years, the one that comes next -- the one-state solution - you'll like even less. Go figure!

[disintaGreatNation]

I respectfully request you to google "Mubarak Awad," and then talk about the dearth of peacemakers among the Palestinians.

[veritas2]

Edgar, as someone who grew up in American the Middle East, I have always hoped for voices of courage and vision to speak up, and cheered them on, sadly aware that they would be drowned out by the shrill talking points of AIPAC,

You were one of the few who dared speak their mind from a position of knowledge and a sense of fairness that transcended the party line. I am disappointed to see that now
1 You have been chastised and removed from your position, and
2 Are now toeing the line, with the rigidly-enforced AIPAC talking points, which, sadly, are so clearly disingenuous that someone of your caliber has to be a little embarrassed to repeat them.

We expats still hold out hope--- for new organizations like J Street, that articulate an intelligent path to peace. But as long as AIPAC holds the reins, we will be treated to this charade of seemingly "thoughtful analyses" that in actuality are as obstructionist to peace in Israel/Palestine as a "climate change report" put out by the Bush administration is to the environment.

AIPAC's goal is not peace, any more than the right-wing Netanyahu, or the more-right-wing, happily racist Lieberman's. As long as these thugs have AIPAC covering their backs, there is no hope for anything but ugliness and pain. To use your credibility in this area to give these hateful types a rhetorical veneer of reasonableness, is, I think beneath you.

You know better.

[JJeff88]

Trying to achieve sanity in an insane part of the world is both daunting and dangerous. But it doesn't mean enlightened, well-meaning people shouldn't continue to try.

To ignore the danger would be foolhearty. But to give up trying would be to concede defeat in the ongoing effort to make the world a little bit more livable.

[StCuthbert]

Great article Mr. Bronfman.

The Palestinians are equally to blame for the lack of peace as the Israelis. One side cannot shoulder all the blame, and both sides need to recognize the other's right to live in an independent state in peace. The Palestinians are not represented by leaders who want to make peace with Israel. If they want peace, they should overthrow these leaders and install new ones who do.

[eileenflemingWAWA]

Israel's 2005 'disengagement' from Gaza was nothing more that a redeployment!

Israel continued to control ALL borders!

The 1.5 million human beings trapped in Gaza have been under a brutal siege since they democratically and transparently elected Hamas in 2006, because they were fed up with the PA which is just another layer of The Occupation!

Only the PLO, can theoretically claim to represent the entirety of the Palestinian people: inside historic Palestine and in exile.

However, the PLO needs to be revived in a transparent, democratic and inclusive process that encompasses all the political parties that are outside the PLO structures today.

The true voice of Palestine is the Palestinian Civil Society, and they have issued the Call for BDS: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel until the OCCUPATION ENDS and Israel complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights.

This October 16-17 is a Global Day of Action for BDS!

Learn lots:

http://www.stopthewall.org/

http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/52

[milty]

Would wawa leave her door unlocked if she lived in a high crime neighborhood?

[Ergon]

Would wawa throw someone out of their home, and live in it herself, while claiming some sort of perpetual victimhood?

[BADRALDUJA]

well said eileen,atleast ur not afraid to speak out the truth

[Tzippi]

If you study geography you would know that there is a border with Egypt but the Egyptians also don't want Hamas coming into their country and destabilizing it.

I also wonder why the Arabs who live on the West Bank think they should work in Israel. Why not in Jordan, Syria, Egypt or Lebanon?

[JohnnyLee]

Hamas is a terrorist organization bent on the destruction of Israel. As far as being democratically elected, so what? If the President of the United States starting shooting rockets into Canada would that be OK because he/she was democratically elected?

The US will NEVER divest from Israel so you might want to start thinking of another plan. Here's one - how about people like yourself stop being enablers to the PLO and Hamas? Instead of buying into all their rhetoric why don't you say - Hey, here's your opportunity for your country all you have to do is recognize Israel is a Jewish country and except demilitarization (just like Japan and Germany did).

[lbsaltzman]

We don't need the U.S. to divest to have a successful boycott of Israel all that has to happen is for the boycot and divestiture to work in Europe and Israel will be brought to its' knees. The bulk of Israeli exports go to Europe not the U.S. Though I encourage everyone to not buy Israeli goods until their is a just peace deal with the Palestinians.

[sffear]

Unfortunately, there will be no peace between these two groups until Messiah returns. You need to read the "Haj" by Leon Uris and also a book written by one of Jimmy Carter's (who has become a complete goofball on middle eastern policy) staff on middle eastern policy (Joan Peters) wrote. "From Time Immemorial". The reality of the arab is whatever suits him at that particular moment. The rest of the arab world is holding these "Palestinians" hostage in order to serve their cause. The land has belonged to the Israeli people for 4000 years and there will come a day when this will be revealed. Some of us already believe it. Some of us are too smart to admit it.

[Ergon]

Leon Uris and Joan Peters wrote pretty bad fiction.

[vinny]

Maybe you should encourage Abbas to "unilaterally" schedule elections. that way we can start dealing with an ELECTED leader (unlike Abbas at this point) who represent the people's interests.

[dougnoll]

The Israeli-Palestinian problem is more complex than a failure of leadership, although that is part of the complexity. From my perspective as a professional peacemaker, the heart of the problem lies in the identity conflicts existing within both the Israeli and the Palestinian camps. Essentially, the fundamentalists on both sides have seized the ideological high ground, They have staked out extremist positions in terms of sacred values from which no compromise is possible. I believe that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians seek and hope for peace. They are hijacked by those in their midst who claim that honor, duty, and death come before a pragmatic settlement of all disputes. If there is a failure of leadership, it is here: leaders on both sides have failed to stand into the ideologues, denounce their fundamentalist and extremist views, and courageously stand for peace. Until such time as the extremists in both camps are marginalized by popular opinion, the crisis and conflict will continue. In the meantime, there are ways to engage the extremists which will require engaging with patience and tact.