If the Netanyahu government, and its lobby in Washington, were rational they would be rushing to plan Israel's evacuation from the occupied territories, and encouraging the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
That is because they would understand that the Arab revolution will not stop at the gates of the West Bank, especially when it is the occupation that unites virtually all Arabs and Muslims in common fury.
As for the Palestinians themselves, they are watching the revolutions with a combination of joy and humiliation. Other Arabs are freeing themselves from local tyrants while they remain under a foreign occupation that grows more onerous every day (particularly in East Jerusalem). While other Arabs revel in what they have accomplished, the Palestinians remain, and are regarded as, victims.
It is not going to last. The Palestinians will revolt, just as the other Arabs have, and the occupation will end.
But it is up to the Israelis to help decide how it will end (just as it was up to the Mubarak government and Egyptian army to decide whether the regime would go down in blood and flames or accept the inevitable).
For Israel, that means that Israel can accept the terms of the Arab League Initiative (incorporating United Nations Resolutions 242 and 338) and trade the occupied lands for full peace and normalization of relations with the entire Arab world.
Or it can fight to hang on to an unsustainable status quo -- ignoring the fact that the weaponry they can use against any foreign invaders cannot be used against an occupied civilian population. That is especially true in the age of Al Jazeera and of Twitter, Facebook, and the rest.
Right-wing Israelis and their lobby in Washington invariably respond to this argument by saying that it is impossible to leave the West Bank, pointing to the experience in Gaza. They withdrew only to have their own land beyond the border shelled by militants who seized control as the IDF troops left for home.
That is true and it might indeed happen again if the Israeli occupation is ended as a result of a popular uprising.
But Gaza is only an applicable precedent if Israel leaves without negotiating the terms of its departure. Israel left Gaza when Palestinians made the price of staying too high but, rather than negotiating its way out, it just left. In an act of colossal and typical arrogance Prime Minister Ariel Sharon withdrew unilaterally. Not only did he refuse to negotiate the terms of the withdrawal with President Abbas, he refused even to give the Palestinian Authority advance notice of the day and time of their departure.
Had they done so, the PA would have been in place to prevent the havoc that ensued. But they weren't. Sharon, utterly contemptuous of Palestinians, behaved as if Israel was 19th century Belgium and Palestine was the Congo. No consultations with the natives was even contemplated.
The Israeli government would have to be absolutely out of its mind to allow a repeat of that experience. But that would likely happen if Israel is forced out rather than negotiating its way out.
Fortunately, both the Israelis and the Palestinians already have worked out detailed plans to ensure mutual security following an Israeli withdrawal. In fact, the Palestinian Authority already utilizes those plans to maintain West Bank security and, with Israeli help, prevents attacks on Israel from territories its control.
The same modalities would have to be worked out with the Hamas authorities in Gaza. (Hamas has repeatedly said that it would accept the terms of any agreement with Israel worked out by the Palestinian Authority and approved by the Palestinian people in a referendum).
What is Israel waiting for? Can it honestly look at the way the Middle East has evolved in 2011 and believe that the occupation can last forever? Can it have so little respect for Palestinians that it believes them incapable of doing what Egyptians, Libyans, and Tunisians have done?
Or is it that Netanyahu simply counts on the United States to come to its assistance when the inevitable happens. That would be a big mistake. It is one thing for the United States to get pressured by AIPAC into vetoing a resolution on settlements. It is quite another to think that anything the United States does can preserve the occupation. In fact, after last week's votes, it is doubtful that the Palestinian people (other than a few big shots) even care what the United States thinks anymore.
No, it is up to Israel to defend Israel. And that means ending the occupation, on terms worked out with the Palestinians, rather than allowing it to end in violence that could cross the border and threaten the survival of Israel itself.
Why can't Israel see that? Or have the fanatics in the Israeli government (the settlers and the religious parties) decided that it better to have no Israel at all than an Israel without the West Bank and its settlements? Because that is how Israel is behaving: as if Ariel, Hebron, and Maale Adumim are worth more than Tel Aviv, Haifa, and the Jewish parts of Jerusalem.
It's a kind of insanity.
Follow MJ Rosenberg on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mjmediamatters
It appears that Merkel has something Obama was supposed to have been born with.
It's only fair, as their mischief costs money and lives, and they aren't about to cool down...as the Palestinians in the comments section attest to.
In fact all I see are calls for violence by those who defend the indefensible - Palestine.
As in: the Palestinians are serfs, and like all good serfs they will be forced to pay taxes to their Lord and Master, lest that Overlord get mighty pissed off with them.
After all, that how all warlords operate....
For the second time in as many days, Egyptian armed force stormed the 5th century old St. Bishoy monastery in Wadi el-Natroun, 110 kilometers from Cairo. Live ammunition was fired, wounding two monks and six Coptic monastery workers. Several sources confirmed the army's use of RPG ammunition. Four people have been arrested including three monks and a Coptic lawyer who was at the monastery investigating yesterday's army attack.
Monk Aksios Ava Bishoy told activist Nader Shoukry of Freecopts the armed forces stormed the main entrance gate to the monastery in the morning using five tanks, armored vehicles and a bulldozer to demolish the fence built by the monastery last month to protect themselves and the monastery from the lawlessness which prevailed in Egypt during the January 25 Uprising.
"When we tried to address them, the army fired live bullets, wounding Father Feltaows in the leg and Father Barnabas in the abdomen," said Monk Ava Bishoy. "Six Coptic workers in the monastery were also injured, some with serious injuries to the chest."
"03/02/2011 15:41
EGYPT
Minya: Copts protest after governor decides to tear down Church building
Some 10,000 Copts march against the decision taken by the governor of Minya, southern Egypt, to demolish a five-storey building used a centre for the disabled. Shouting “Go, go after your master, [Mubarak],” they call for his resignation.
Cairo (AsiaNews/Agencies) – More than 10,000 Copts in Minya Governorate, 250 kilometres south of Cairo, took to the streets to demand the resignation of the local governor, Ahmed Dia-el-Din, after he ordered the demolition of Church-run welfare centre for the disabled in the village of Deir Barsha.
Demonstrators from Deir Barsha and Deir Heness marched through the streets shouting slogans against the governor: “Go, go after your master [Mubarak]" and "We stopped giving bribes, so now you want to demolish the centre."
At the end of the demonstration, more than 200 Copts refused to leave the centre for the disabled, staging a non-stop sit-in until the demolition order is revoked"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-129459/Children-die-Israeli-attack.html
disgusting and cowardly. why not advocate for peace instead?
We never forget. Neither do you.
With the facebook revolutions having claimed virtually every other country in the region, the time may be coming for that most important one of all. And if Facebook is to be relied on for its revolutionary calendar, a job it has so far done without reproach, the revolutionary wave will come to Saudi Arabia on March 20.That will also the day crude passes $200.
Also, instead of just announcing their rallying call, future protestors have listed their 12 demands:
1 – a constitutional monarchy between the king and government.
2 – a written constitution approved by the people in which governing powers will be determined.
3 – transparency, accountability in fighting corruption
4 – the Government in the service of the people
5 – legislative elections.
6 – public freedoms and respect for human rights
7 – allowing civil society institutions
8 – full citizenship and the abolition of all forms of discrimination.
9 – Adoption of the rights of women and non-discrimination against them.
10 – an independent and fair judiciary.
11 – impartial development and equitable distribution of wealth.
12 – to seriously address the problem of unemployment
Since none of these have a chance of going through in an absolute monarchy, things are about to get really hot.
He says that the violence from Gaza continued because israel withdrew unilaterally. And based on that precedent, israel cannot leave the west bank unilaterally. (Although strangely, he makes no call for the Palestnians to come negotiate...)
Doesn't this fly in the face of common wisdom here? I see the talking point that israel must immediately and unilaterally withdraw to 1967 lines repeated daily here.
I'm glad to see that MJ is at least paying lip service to israeli security considerations.
So between the israeli withdrawal and the start of the blockade , you know what was happening? Rocket attacks! (Not exactly what I would call a "confidence building measure", following the withdrawal.)
it's a total waste of everybody's time.
thank you for this sentence, MJ
this is a lonely minority position and it's nice to have some company!
This, " If you were truly pro-Israel", is not up to you do judge. You are a bad judge of this, anyway, your definition of "pro-Israel" is somewhere to the right of Avigdor Lieberman.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/christina-patterson/christina-patterson-israel-needs-its-friends-more-than-ever-2222647.html
You would evict 500,000 out of 7M people from their homes?
And what will you do with these new refugees? Where will they live? Where will you get the money to compensate them for their homes and businesses?
This is still not considering what exactly does the Arab Peace Initiative say about how Israel will have to solve the Palestinian refugee problem, which could add a few millions more to the problem.
You will leave every last inch of the Golan West Bank East Jerusalem abandon the Western Wall?
You seriously say that if you had the power you would say yes to that?
Regarding ofcourse you and your family would move to Israel and plan to settle there and not return to America after a couple of years when the economy will crumble.
Not just take a stand when there is nothing for you to loose in it like you do now.
The Arab unconditional Israeli surrender initiative isn't the the best way to go.
On the other hand, let's not forget that this week's attempts to create a unity government with Hamas and Fatah are again stuck in the mud. This is a very, very bad time to be debating whose ball they will play with.
If they can't agree, they have to call elections.