Palestinians Won’t Accept Reversal

When Shimon Peres took over the premiership in Israel after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, he made a special appeal to the Syrians. Trying to convince them of his seriousness about the peace process, Peres said that he preferred to win the peace rather than win the elections. In the months leading to the elections, however, Peres reneged on his statement when dealing with Palestinians with a brutal siege and with indiscriminate bombing of Lebanese civilians. In the end, Peres lost both the peace and the vote.

Now Israel’s Prime Minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu is singing a similar tune about his “deep” commitment to peace with the Arab world, including with Palestinians. It is possible that in the short term Netanyahu will seek to improve the situation vis-a-vis Palestinians. But in the long term he will be unable to effectively move the peace process unless he makes dramatic and courageous changes in his current political platform.

Netanyahu inherits a partially completed interim solution with Palestinians and final status talks that had a ceremonial opening last month. He has to deal with Palestinian and Arab interlocutors that are highly mistrustful of him and his coalition partners. He also needs to convince a suspicious international community with actions that show he is committed to peace.

When Netanyahu says that he respects existing peace agreements, he needs to remember that they were signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, with international approval. For Netanyahu and the newly elected government to talk to Yasser Arafat is not a negotiable matter but a matter of necessity. And the Israeli redeployment from Hebron, which was postponed from last March till mid-June, should not become part of the new Israeli leader’s political juggling act.

Palestinians whom Netanyahu has called “neighbors” should not become hostages to the new coalition. The closure must be lifted; routes of free passage from Gaza to the West Bank need to be opened. Collective punishment is not the formula for good neighborly relations.

Jewish settlements built on Palestinian territory are contrary to international law and to the concept of peace. Expansion of these settlements, subsidizing settlers and bringing in new ones will be seen as a declaration of war on the fragile peace process. Tensions will rise, and with the disappearance of hope for a peaceful settlement, Palestinians will undoubtedly look for alternative solutions. This will be very tragic for all concerned. It will reinvigorate the radical and violent forces in the Palestinian community, which Arafat and his authority have been working hard to control. In fact, if the situation deteriorates, there is no guarantee that all members of the Palestinian police or their weapons will continue to be controlled and under internal discipline.

By far the most telling sign regarding the peace process will be the attitude of the new Israeli leader toward the final status talks with Palestinians and his approach to Lebanon and Syria. In all of these talks, the concept of land for peace must be central. The old Shamir proposal of trading peace for peace will not produce real or lasting peace.

Netanyahu’s Likud has stated total opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state. Reading the Likud’s policy statement, one gets the impression that Netanyahu would like to have the present interim self-rule become the final status for Palestinians. Netanyahu and his coalition partners need to face up to reality. Two million Palestinians will not live under apartheid rule and can’t be held under military rule indefinitely. Palestinians accepted autonomy as a transitional solution. To treat it as permanent will be unacceptable, not only to Palestinians but to all Arabs and the international community as well.

Attempts by a Netanyahu administration to deny Palestinians sovereignty over their own territory will leave them no choice but to demand to be annexed to Israel and be given equal rights with Israelis.

In the popular Disney film “Aladdin,” the genie often reminds the young hero of the difficulties he is facing by repeating the memorable words, “reality check.” The Oslo peace process, with all its inadequacies, has started a real peace with the Palestinian people and with the Arab world. Despite difficulties, bombings and assassinations, the Oslo path has proceeded because of the irreversibility of the changes on the ground. If Israel’s new prime minister wants to go against these facts, he needs a reality check of his own.