It’s not often I read an article on Arab-Israel issues and find myself nodding in agreement through it all. Most anything by Alan Dershowitz, Christopher Hitchens or Jeffrey Goldberg (kind of), and some others. As for regular New York Times op-ed columnists like Cohen, Friedman, Kristof, I read them, but nodding in agreement... fuggedaboutit.
“Good news from the Middle East (really)” is one such by Goldberg and Hussein Ibish.
Many argue that the peace process is moribund or on “life support”. Goldberg and Ibish challenge this judgment.
Of course, we have to close our eyes and buy the fantasy that there was a “Palestinian people” who were dispossessed of land back in the thirties, and have been “suffering“ ever since. That, after all, believing that fantasy is also the bed-rock illusion that underlies a two-state solution. And that solution, we are told, is the only one that will bring peace to the Middle East. Still, sometimes we have to live with self-delusion (“I’ll respect you in the morning”, that sort of thing), and Israel can buy that, so can I.
Security is the main concern in giving back land, but the formula given here by Goldberg and Ibish is one that Dershowitz has long proposed and would work: give little bits of the West Bank back, more of the towns, as already happened in 1995 with cities given over to the Palestinian Authority. Steps Goldberg and Ibish say are “not overly onerous, and not irreversible should Israel’s security be newly threatened”.
And on the Palestinian side, Goldberg and Ibish propose that the PS should follow through on PM Fayyad’s pledge in August last year “to use the West Bank’s public education system to combat religious and political fanaticism”.
Roadblocks not really addressed:
Hamas: they simply say “no peace treaty will end the conflict so long as Hamas is in power and loyal to the uncompromising Muslim Brotherhood ideology it espouses.” And so?.... nothing. And there’s nothing to indicate that Hamas will change its hateful, racist, murderous Charter, which calls for the murder of Jews wherever they are (ie, not “just” in Israel).
Which leads to…
Egypt/Tunisa, (et al?): the recent demonstrations need to play out. What if the result is Muslim Brotherhood regimes, which could well happen? That would be Hamas on steroids, and the moribund peace process will indeed die. There would go country that had the guts first amongst Arabs to recognise Israel.
Which leads to…
Recognition of Israel: this is not covered in the article. That is, recognition of Israel by countries in the region, as required by UN Resolution 242. How can Israel give anything away when that’s not given?
Which leads to…
The very requirement for compromise: How likely that Abbas would “… visit Israel and tell the Israelis he acknowledges that they have national and historical rights on the land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea…”. Or that Netanyahu would “visit Ramallah, acknowledge Palestinian suffering., and also Palestinian natiinal and historical rights, particularly to a country of their own on their native land.” Wow, that would take a big swallow.
So I hope they’re right to be optimistic. But I remain pessimistic. Especially if the Egypt situation worsens.
So, I guess I wasn't really nodding my head quite so much, when I come to think of it.
So, I guess, being a glass-half-full guy, my headline would be “Good news from the Middle East (if only)”.
Downloadable PDF of the article is here.
