The first thing they will have to do is become centralized. In order for Israel to be able to negotiate, there needs to be one body representing the Palestinians. Traditionally, Fatah-lead PLO has been considered the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians and all past negotiations have been between Israel and this organization. Truth be told, however, it is not the most powerful organization in Palestine nor is it the organization with the most popular support. In. 2006, Hamas won the majority of seats in the PLC, Palestine's parliament, and the PLO was able to retain power only by usurping. The west continues to view Fatah as the legitimate Palestinian leadership only because it is the only organization to openly declare it was interested in peace. While there is certainly room to debate whether this declaration was ever sincere, this discussion is irrelevant because as of now, Fatah lacks the power to end the conflict even if it does agree to do so.
This is the PLC, green represents Hamas.
Therefore, step number one towards peace must be to eradicate radical elements and to regain political cohesion. Doing this would require a shift in the general atmosphere in the Palestinian territories. I'm not claiming all Palestinians are war-mongers and anti-peace, I think generalizations such as those made by some of my fellow answerers about Israelis should be avoided when discussing this very intricate and complex issue. That being said, there seems to be a large following of the idea that a two state solution would be a disgrace to Palestine and that only perpetual warfare is the appropriate way to deal with Israel. This idea and the opposition to Fatah that stems from it seriously undermines Israel's ability to engage in fruitful negotiations with this body.
We don't hear very much about Hamas in the West Bank, because the PLO and the IDF make an intensive combined effort to keep it underground. The unfortunate reality, however, is that its presence is very real and felt. As long as PLO rule is wobbly as it is now and anti-peace organizations threaten to take over, I don't see what Israel can possibly do.
One last thing: I'd like to discuss this idea, posited by some of my fellow answerers, that Israel simply isn't interested in peace.
This idea makes very little sense. Israel's conflict with the Palestinians is extremely costly for Israel on many different levels. Financially, it spends more of its GDP on its military budget than any other country save Saudi Arabia, anywhere between a fifth and a quarter of the annual budget is allocated to defense. That's not normal, and it puts a major damper on Israel's development. From a PR perspective, Israel went from being called a beacon of freedom and democracy in the Middle-East to being called an apartheid regime. Israelis shouldn't want this.
Most of Israeli politics have always been oriented towards peace, from the Weizmann-Faisal agreement to the Allon and Jericho plan to Camp David.
Moderates are always able to get along famously. Weizmann and Faisal.
And yet people are convinced of this narrative that Israeli leadership has repeatedly rejected peace, the only premier to be pro-peace being assassinated in 1995 by a zealot. A lot of people like to bring him up as part of the ‘two-state solution is dead' argument. I guess it's as if to say: “Well there was that one Israeli leader who wanted peace, but they killed him. Oh well, guess we'll have to go for one-state”. This is absurd because Rabin's opinions and beliefs were no different than most Israeli premieres in history, in fact he was often considered more militant than his Mapai predecessors Ben Gurion, Sharet, Eshkol and Golde. There were even right-wing PM's who made more substantial peace concessions than he did, like Begin and Sharon.
Also, Rabin was assassinated by a religious extremist. His killer, Yigal Amir, was universally condemned and represented virtually no one. Conversely, Palestinian leaders who were murdered for their support of peace agreements, like Said Hammami and Issam Sartawi were killed by popular groups and their killers suffered no consequences. Most people have never even heard of them.
Why would one of Israel's most militant PMs and 1967 chief of staff be considered the most peaceful Israeli leader? Yitzhak Rabin.
Fact of the matter is this: the narrative claiming the two state solution being dead and Israel being its killer, is a pernicious myth. Its implications are clear: peace can never be achieved as long as a Jewish Israel exists. The only solution is Arab rule over the Levant in its entirety, with the Jews as a defenseless minority. This belief stems from Pan-Arabic ideology much more than any genuine concern for the Palestinian situation.
Thank you for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment