Courage Needed

Israel is tangled in a war for the second time in just two years. This could indicate one of two things; either Israel's enemies are gaining more power than ever before, or it's an election year again. Both hypotheses are correct, hence a conflict is unavoidable.
Now, a courageous candidate running for election would break this vicious circle by taking a stand and saying: peace is not won in the battlefield; it's reached around the negotiation table.

Israel, the sole democracy in the Middle East, is trying to recuperate its deterrence. The strengthening of Hezbollah in the north and Hammas in the south has been eroding this once-legendary deterrence. Israel's efforts to maintain military dominance while sending peace signals to its neighbors have turned out to be a double-ended sword. Its continuous restraint for years, the Oslo agreement and abandonment of settlements are seen as signs of weakness by Hammas and Hezbollah, rather than a sign of goodwill towards a peace process.

Israeli PM Candidates on election year are not stretching their courage skills, but rather looking to satisfy the mass public. Their advisers push them to show aggressiveness as a means to get their ranking up at the polls. The popular notion would not allow them to overlook the missile attacks, saying that every country has the right to defend itself. But to break the spell, one must change the approach - more retaliation is not the answer. It has been tried time and again, never with any sustainable success. The time has come for a change. A courageous change.

In order to lead courageously, a leader would need courageous people to trust his unconventional ideas. Unfortunately, the citizens of Israel are just longing for some quiet. Not peace. Just plain quiet. A break from being bombed. Two years ago it was the Hezbollah who launched missiles on the Northern part of Israel in a show of power. Now it's Hammas who fires rockets on many cities in Southern Israel, constantly improving their rockets' reach and accuracy. For eight long years Sderot, a city in Southern Israel, has been the target of missile attacks from Gaza. Children have been sleeping in shelters, afraid to go back to their beds, fearing the next missile siren. Elderly people mourn their dreams of the Promised Land. Despair and disbelief spread among Israelis who think peace is nowhere to be seen on the horizon.

The hopes for "Peace of the Brave" in the Middle East are buried six feet under, along with former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. There was a time in Israel of 1992 when Rabin became Prime Minister and Israelis woke up to a bright new day with the aspiration and hope for peace. Those hopes vanished with his assassination. From that point on, any effort to reach a peace agreement in the region went downhill. Rabin's absence left Israel in a void. A leadership void. Many politicians called themselves leaders, trying to compare themselves to Rabin, making sure his picture is in their background at every photo-op. Alas, it's not enough!

Rabin had the courage that current candidates for Prime Minister lack. Sure, all three candidates served in elite special-ops units, risking their lives to protect Israel. But leading the people of Israel in a new direction takes a different kind of courage than life-risking Commando operations. The courage to take a course that may appear unpopular at first: Talking with Israel's bitter enemies towards a ceasefire and taking steps towards lasting peace. The impression that one can end Hammas' motivation to shoot rockets at Israel through the sheer destruction of infrastructure by Air Force attacks is absurd. Hammas is only getting more sympathy from Arab countries and the West. Pictures of helpless victims on televisions worldwide only make things harder to unwind. By definition, Israel will lose if it tries to force the Hammas to ceasefire by using more fire.

A courageous leader would spark the enthusiasm towards peace. The Israelis are in a down spiral, but with the right leadership they could bounce back hungry for peace as ever before. The Palestinians should be forced to decide if they want to join moderate Arab countries like Egypt and Jordan who signed peace treaties with Israel. A coalition of courage should be established by moderate Arab leaders together with the support of President-elect Obama and European leaders. This coalition would be setting the rules of engagement, building a bridge over troubled water, setting the goals and course of action to restore normality. This is how you win a war. The war for peace.

Comments

[Cogitoe]

There is absolutely no recommendation from this author that has not been tried by past U.S. administrations. Obama/Clinton will not succeed with it either. Creating a road map to peace was fine as long as Fatah was in charge, but they are not. Neither Hamas, Hezbollah nor their sponsor Iran has any interest in the author's peace process.

[UberReaganite]

I do agree on this.... NOW that Israel has shown their willingness to do what they must to defend their nation REGARDLESS of world opinion, they have shown the strength they needed to and can now bargain from a position of strength. Lets get these Palestinian bums to the table, hold their feet to the diplomatic fire and finally reach an agreement on something - if they refuse THEY should be cut off from all world aid. They should also be their AID reduced and put aside for every single atatck they make on Israel during peace negotiations and truces and if they can go 6 months honoring truces and cease fires like CIVILIZED people they should get their full aid for that period.

There has to be some penalty for dishonorable conduct otherwise you are indirectly sponsoring terrorism.

[Shunit Harpaz - Huffpost Blogger]

Yep this is what I'm saying - Now after the air strikes and the troops dividing Gaza to three pieces, the time has come to sit around a table. We've all seen this movie before. Escalation not followed by negotiation is just going to repeat itself.

[UberReaganite]

Shunit you are right on about the need for dialogue and you are right that the violence has gone on long enough but I must disagree on some of your views.

When Libya fostered terrorism and had the ear of the world in the media Reagan upset allies and foe alike when he did the raid on Libya and tossed Ghadafi's salad a bit with ordinance. What was the result? Ghadafi shut his stupid mouth after that! Libyan backing of terrorist activity dropped drastically and no more force was needed. In the 5 years PRIOR to that all of our DIALOGUE accomplished nothing.

When Israel attacked Lebanon for the very same reasons they are now in Gaza for what was the result? The media freaked and there was a lot of "gnashing of teeth" and wailing in agiony but what was the RESULT. Well it seems all is quiet on the Northern front and there is more potential for REAL dialogue now with Lebanon than before.

You cannot negotiate from a position of weakness. That has NEVER worked and it never will. It especially will never work with terrorists and militants becuase they have no NATIONAL respect to lose. You cant sanction them, you cant hold them accountable, you cant stonewall them diplomatically because they simply do not care. That is how it has been and how it always will be.

[IsraeliSoul]

Courage is needed indeed
Israeli soldiers need courage
Innocent people both in Gaza and Israel need courage
We all miss personas like Rabin
We also miss Sharon
As a former Israeli soldier I can say we have no partner for peace

[Shunit Harpaz - Huffpost Blogger]

Sometimes it looks like Israel has no one to talk with; but remember - it took a long while to talk with Yassir Arafat. I say that we can’t wait that long. We need to engage, we need to listen, they need to listen, and together with pressure from the Egyptian and the Saudis there could be a break through. There should be a greater push towards negotiations and resolving the conflict.

[UberReaganite]

Dont think EVERYONE is against Israel as the media would have you believe. You have the total support of many patriotic Americans. I am not Jewish and frankly I couldn't care less about your religion. I am just a man that feels that Jewish people are very intelligent, responsible and decent people that contribute significantly to EVERY community they are a part of and contribute greatly to the culture of humanity in general. You are GOOD people and do not deserve the persecution you have suffered through the ages. You have been wronged so often and to such horrible extent for no valid reason that it makes me asahmed for mankind. The Sovereign nation of Israel has every right to exist and the world needs your people as part of its community.

We are very proud of you. Keep defending your nation and people.

Shalom.

[voyager0]

The author makes no mention of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Once again Israel is portrayed as the victim. This is fantasy. Israel created Hamas in an effort to divide the Palestinians and avoid having to reach a settlement for a two-state solution with Yasir Arafat. Until Israel is willing to end its occupation of the Palestinian people, agree to a real, not bantustan-like two state solution, there can be no real peace. The reason the people of Gaza elected Hamas was not because they worship terrorism and terrorists; rather, Fatah is a corrupt entity that did nothing to protect them and improve their lives. I fear that Israel's new war will create another generation of hatred towards the Jewish state. The solution: end the occupation, dismantle the illegal settlements, withdraw to the 1967 borders and allow the Palestinian people to live free of oppression. The rockets will stop once and for all.

[abdallac]

Very well said. However, don't hold your breath - they are positively myopic in their view of their own history and will use anyone to further their means.

[johnniebbaker]

Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. i guess Iraqi is a failure. of course any Palestinian democracy was crushed by those who didn't like the outcome. but most of all this claim rings false as long as Turkey is considered located in the Middle East. The fact is a moderate Islamist party came to power in the most militantly secular state in the region.

But you're real lack of knowledge comes in regarding the relationship between Hamas and Israel. Anyone with real knowledge of this relationship is aware of Israeli involvement and funding of Hamas. And this happened with US, or CIA, compliance, as many early founders had once been CIA assests.

US, Israeli, and Saudi support of Islamist movements to counter balance secular Arab and Palestinian governments seen as a threat began during Eisenhower (Salim Yaqub, "Containing Arab Nationalism" U NCarolina Press, 2004). This policy culminated with the Soviet-Afghan conflict. Hamas was a continuation of this policy, as a means to keep Arafat weak and discredit Palestinian nationalism. And like The US and Afghanistan, Israel really had no control of Hamas. (Mahmood Mamdani, "Good Muslim, Bad Muslim" Pantheon Books, 2004. see also his endnote on p274 for his sources, Israeli, US, and Palestinian). Israeli did not create Hamas, the Palestinians have their own agency, but they helped it grow into a political force.

And your response to Voyagero's comment was so childish it wouldn't pass in my freshman classes.

[Shunit Harpaz - Huffpost Blogger]

To say that Israel created Hammas is like saying that someone would like to get cancer.
I would like to remind you that Ehud Barak offered Yassir Arafat a Palestinian state, an offer that was rejected probably because Arafat already had a strong opposition against ending the conflict. Arafat was afraid that his destiny will be as of Anowar Saadat who made peace with Israel and then was assassinated .This is exactly the point - you need to be brave to make peace!