I recently completed my first State Visit to Israel and Palestine. I did not include Gaza in the trip. Unexpectedly, I left the region with much hope for a fully sovereign Palestinian State and long-lasting peace for the peoples who inhabit that crowded land.
During my 5-day visit I met with the elder Statesman Nobel Laureate President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Speaker of the Knesset Reuven Rivlin, President Mahmud Abbas and senior advisers and ministers.
I was surprised by the state of peace and economic prosperity prevailing in Israel and the West Bank. Israelis and Palestinians alike are pleased that not one single attack has been launched from the West Bank into Israel in four years.
Visiting Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem, including walking along a "refugee" area, with the infamous concrete security wall towering above me, and shaking hands with a number of youth, I was struck by the relative calm in the area. As someone all too familiar with situations of subjugation and despair, I could sense that this is a very fragile peace. Violence will flare-up if the much promised and much delayed Palestinian State does not become a reality within the next two years. Nevertheless, at this particular point in time, Israel and Palestine (West Bank) form an oasis of tranquility in a region in turmoil.
Visiting the West Bank I envied the relative prosperity of the Palestinians and the progress being made in their State-building exercise. Palestinians in the West Bank are far ahead of most Sub-Sahara African States, and indeed well ahead of my own country, in economic well-being and the development of the State institutions.
Israelis were not bestowed with the same resources available to much of the Arab world. Yet Israelis are ahead of all their neighbors, and of many European countries, in such fields as humanities, science, food security, information technology, and medicine. They have harvested more Nobel prizes than any other individual country of its size. That this tiny country struggling with water scarcity is a major exporter of high quality agriculture goods to Europe and Russia illustrates the well-known Jewish resilience and creativity in the face of extreme adversity.
Palestinians living in the West Bank, who have been much less fortunate in life than Israelis, are yet ahead of their Arab brothers and sisters in the critical area of higher education, and serve in key positions in government, business and academia throughout the region, in the US and Europe.
In my conversations with Israeli leaders I was struck by the respect I heard for President Abu Maz and other Palestinian leaders. From the Palestinian side, in spite of decades of betrayal and suffering, I did not hear much animosity towards Israelis and Americans. In spite of obvious long-standing American bias towards Israel, the Palestinians I spoke to continue to favor US mediation.
Prime Minister Netanyahu says that he is anxious to restart face-to-face dialogue. He appears to be firmly committed to the two-State concept, to a truly independent Palestinian State, one that is economically prosperous. Yes, the settlements remain a complex issue, but it is a mistake to make them the central issue. The Israelis know that once a final settlement is achieved the settlements have to go. They did in Gaza and they are prepared to do it in West Bank with "minor border adjustments" from both sides.
As relevant an issue, in our discussion, the Israeli leader was very emphatic in opposing a Palestinian State with a full-fledged army and one with offensive military capabilities. I put this to President Abu Maz and he was quite pragmatic about it, essentially agreeing that a Palestinian State would not need an army. He in fact favors a professional police force trained by the Americans.
In the region -- or at least in Israel and Ramallah -- there is deep resentment and opposition to radical Iranian meddling in Gaza and Lebanon. For many in Israel, Palestine and elsewhere in much of the Arab world, Iran presents the greatest threat to all. I heard from many that "the Iranians have taken control of Gaza and Lebanon". There is a convergence of views in the entire region about Iran's meddling and its destabilizing effect, and yet only the US and Israel seem to be able to check Iranian's ambitions.
According to senior Palestinian leaders, Iranian intervention makes it reconciliation between the Palestinian Authority or the PLO and the Hamas extremely difficult. As long as there is no change of policies and tactics by the Hamas, the prospects of reconciliation among Palestinians will always be extremely difficult to realize, in the end undermining Palestinians' dream of a peaceful and prosperous State.
I also believe that demonizing the Hamas or Hezbollah and declaring them "terrorists" is far too simplistic and unwise. The reality is that Hamas and Hezbollah have not been involved in terrorist activities outside the region. One well-known "terrorist", Yasser Arafat, signed the now forgotten Oslo Peace Accord and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 along with Shimon Peres and the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. T
here should be some back-channel dialogue with Hamas and Hezbollah by the Americans and Israelis to explore a modus vivendi with them.
Dialogue even with one's declared enemies must always be the preferred option. Even more so when there is clear evidence that the other side has leaders with mass following and a political agenda.
I do not believe that Hamas and Hezbollah pursue "terror" tactics for the sake of it. For them, the end justifies the means. Their goal is Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab lands and Palestinian independence. The elimination of the State of Israel as stated on occasion by some fanatics are no more valid than, and are equally abhorrent as, the many derogatory and incendiary statements uttered by extremists in Israel and the US against Arabs and Muslims.
The overlapping claims on Jerusalem present probably the greatest challenge for all sides. However, there might be possibility for compromise -- even if talking about compromise on Jerusalem would amount to heresy in Israel. Factually, a compromise need not necessarily undermine either side's valid spiritual claims to Jerusalem as their capital.
Both sides should be able to hoist their flag in Jerusalem. But no side should be allowed to turn the sacred area into a city of politicians, bureaucrats, policemen and merchants.
In reality, the Holy City, like most holy places in the world, has been taken over by enterprising merchants selling religious merchandise catering to all religions. Perhaps the merchants are wiser and more pragmatic than religious scholars, preachers and politicians - they've already worked out how people of all faiths can work side by side.
There is no reason why Israelis and Palestinians should not agree to some symbolic presence in areas around inner Jerusalem, like the ceremonial palaces or offices of the two Heads of State and Prime Ministers, while keeping most government and administration offices in Tel Aviv and Ramallah. The Palestinians who also have valid claims to the city should be entitled to have a symbolic presence there, calling it its capital, while their de facto capital remains in Ramalah.
Brad Hirschfield: Terror in Jerusalem: Seeking a Wise Response
Rattling the Cage: Tips for information warriors (Part 1)
By LARRY DERFNER
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=210546
Rattling The Cage: More tips for information warriors (Part 2)
By LARRY DERFNER
03/09/2011 22:53
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=211479
Got to love the cultural relativism. They are arabs who dont have what they want, so there is sure to be violence! Ignore the fact that they have continuously rejected compromise solutions.
"Ignore the fact that they have continuously rejected compromise solutions."
Ignore the fact that the compromise solutions have been a joke.
Hope springs eternal in the Middle East in general and Israel and the West Bank Palestinians specifically.
Now if the Gazans can break free of the ever bellicose Hamas as puppets of Iran, there will be peace and prosperity for everyone.
Free elections, abiding by treaties, and a laying down of armed struggle with a recognition of Israel's right to exist has always been the right path toward a Palestinian state at peace with Israel.
The ball has always been in their court.
Enough suffering has been endured on all sides in the desire to wipe Israel off the map.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu says that he is anxious to restart face-to-face dialogue. He appears to be firmly committed to the two-State concept, to a truly independent Palestinian State, one that is economically prosperous."
and
"I do not believe that Hamas and Hezbollah pursue "terror" tactics for the sake of it. For them, the end justifies the means. Their goal is Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab lands and Palestinian independence."
coexist in an article. As each belief is almost totally exclusive to one side. Interesting.
Terrorism is when you attack civilians instead of the enemy army in an attempt to get the civilian population to pressure their governments to give in to you. If Hamas aren't terrorists, nobody is.
Bravo, President Ramos-Horta.
EXCERPT: (Quoting Carroll Bogert, deputy executive director of Human Rights Watch.)
“Palestinians face systematic discrimination merely because of their race, ethnicity, and national origin, depriving them of electricity, water, schools, and access to roads, while nearby Jewish settlers enjoy all of these state-provided benefits. While Israeli settlements flourish, Palestinians under Israeli control live in a time warp – not just separate, not just unequal, but even pushed off their lands and out of their homes”
Robert Bernstein, the founder of Human Rights Watch, one of the world’s leading human rights organisations, accused the New York-based group of anti-Israeli bias yesterday.
Mr Bernstein turned on the organisation he created in 1978 in a New York Times opinion piece questioning the group’s work in the Middle East.
“As the founder of Human Rights Watch, its active chairman for 20 years and now founding chairman emeritus, I must do something that I never anticipated: I must publicly join the group’s critics,” he wrote.
“Human Rights Watch had as its original mission to pry open closed societies, advocate basic freedoms and support dissenters. But recently it has been issuing reports on the Israeli-Arab conflict that are helping those who wish to turn Israel into a pariah state.”"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6883034.ece
Robert Bernstein has clearly sold out his principals.
As a top official of a prominent human rights watchdog, Whitson’s endorsement gave credibility to this fictitious reform movement. Two years later, and weeks after the rebellion began and the Gaddafi regime had killed hundreds, if not thousands, Whitson belatedly reversed course, and in a February 24 Los Angeles Times op-ed acknowledged the façade of Saif’s human rights “reforms.”
This would shown you to be a decent person.
There are probably many reasons why he didn't go to Gaza - logistical, security, time, etc. Maybe he wasn't granted permission via Hamas.
Are people who go solely to Gaza without visiting Israel or the WB also not "decent" people?
Since all the massive destruction and thousands of seriously injured are in Gaza if would be nice if he showed his concerned.
In addition, the guest's call for the destruction of Israel, in his words, "to liberate the entire stolen Palestinian homeland," met with approval by the official PA TV host: "I join my voice to yours; of course, unity and liberation are the hope of all Palestinians.""
http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=4769
But a big step up from what your Rabbis are calling them.
Tried and true (sarcasm).
Even advocated by Thomas Jefferson in regards to the native americans.
Well, I've been misinformed.
According to my good friends, here, the attacks are daily.
And Netenyahu sabotaged them and then bragged about it.