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| ZAKA evacuating a body at one of many past terrorist attacks in Israel |
Like just about all of President Obama’s predecessors he
would like to have the elusive plum of forging a peace treaty between Palestinians and Israelis as part of his legacy. Peace
between Arabs and Israelis is an achievement worth fighting for. And like his
predecessors he is pushing hard during his second term in office to accomplish it.
To that end his Secretary of State has been working overtime to get the
Palestinians and Israelis to at least sit down and talk to each other. It seems
he accomplished that. Negotiators from both sides will have at least one
meeting in Washington this week. It will be followed by more if
there is any progress made at that meeting. Which remains to be seen.
One might say that this is a major achievement by the administration.
But one would be wrong. The hard core issues dividing the two sides are in my
view insurmountable as things stand now. And even if there were to be agreement
about them, there is the small matter of Islamism overtaking the Arab world
right now. An Islamism that rejects the right of Israel to exit in any form.
Their version of peace is the Helen Thomas
version of it: The Jews should all get out of Palestine and go back ‘home’ to Poland,
Germany and any other country they originally came from.
The Palestinian view - including moderates is that the Jews
do not belong in control of any Arab land including Palestine. Palestine is
defined as all of Israel, not just the West Bank of the Jordan River and the Gaza
Strip. They mean Tel Aviv and Bnei Brak too.
The only difference between Islamist rejectionists and the ‘moderate’
Muslim Arab is that moderates are realists and will take what the world will
allow them to take, which is Gaza and the West Bank. Islamists like Iran,
Hamas, and Hezbollah do not hide what they believe. They say what they think.
They are true believers. And they act on those beliefs to the best of their
ability.
They believe God is on their side and they will use all
means at their disposal to achieve those goals, which is why the Islamists that
control Gaza and Lebanon keep firing missiles (supplied by their Islamist
sponsors in Iran) indiscriminately into Israel. There is no placating them.
There is no compromise with them. They will fight to the finish. Even to the
extent of dying and killing innocents (of even their own people) for their
Godly cause.
How strong is Islamism in the Middle East at this juncture?
One must certainly ask that question in the context of peace negotiations. If
the Islamists can be defeated or controlled, it would be one thing. But all one
has to do is look at what is going on in Egypt. True - Islamists were ousted in
a military coup. (I don’t care what the US government is calling it. It was a
military coup – albeit the right move for them.) The fact is that an Islamist won
the last election there. Which means the majority of voters in Egypt see no
problem with their view about Israel’s illegitimacy as a State on Palestinian
land (i.e. all of Israel). The fact is
that even the so called secular moderates who supported the ouster of Islamist
President Morsi believe that Israel is illegitimate and should be destroyed.
This was illustrated in an Ami Magazine interview with one
young secular Egyptian protester who supported the military coup. When asked
about Israel, he too said that Israel has no right to exist. He added that when
Egypt achieves true democracy it should turn its attention to destroying
Israel. The indoctrination of hatred of Israel in Egypt continues at all levels.
Religious and secular. As it does in other Arabs States.
And let’s not forget what’s happening in Syria. Even if
Assad is overthrown (which seems less likely now than it did before) there is
no guarantee that a new government won’t be even more hostile to Israel than
Assad is. My guess is that unless Assad wins - Syria will be less stable than
Egypt.
How do you make peace with a people who at the core believes
that you have no right to exist in an unstable violent environment like this?
The truth is that you can in the following scenario. If the opposition
only is theoretical, and pragmatism would prevail, peace can be achieved. It
can even be a warm peace even if both sides believe theologically in the
justness of their own opposing views. That would not stop a fruitful pragmatic relationship
to develop with economic and technological ties that would include a robust trade
agreement from which both sides would benefit. Moderate Muslim Arabs will still believe that all of Palestine belongs to them
in theory but will concede that it is in their best interests not to fight an un-winnable
war and instead make peace for the betterment of their society.
That would have happened by now if not for the deadly aims
of the Islamists who publicly proclaim their desire to wipe Israel off the
map and will brook no compromise. They will continue their murderous ways in
pursuit of their theological goals.
Which brings me back to the so called peace negotiations.
Peace cannot happen under the conditions that exist now. It is a virtual impossibility.
The geopolitical and religious climate will not allow it.
Even if all this could be overcome (…if you believe that I
have two words for you: bridge and Brooklyn), Jerusalem has become the core
issue. Israel will not give up any part of it. (Even though they already did.
Under Prime Minister Ehud Barak Israel conceded East Jerusalem to the Palestinians at
the ill-fated peace negations during the final days of the Clinton administration.
But that is not the mood of the present government nor any Israeli except for
those on the extreme left). On the other hand even moderate Palestinians will never
concede East Jerusalem to Israel as part of any peace treaty.
For Palestinians there is also the intractable issue of
allowing Arabs who fled from their homes in 1948 to return. The exponentially
increased numbers of their progeny since then could easily outnumber Jews in
very short order and vote Israel out of existence. This Palestinian demand will
never be part of any peace treaty.
And yet Israel agreed to sit down with Palestinians this
week and talk peace. They may as well talk sports for all that matters. It will
result in the same thing.
Which brings me to the very heavy price Israel is paying for
these talks. They are releasing Palestinians who have been convicted of crimes
that have landed them in jail for at least 20 years. I have to assume that many
if not all of them have blood on their hands. What are Palestinians giving up? Nothing.
There is something terribly wrong with this equation. This
price is too high for nothing more than a sham peace negotiation. Nothing will
be solved here – for all the reasons I mentioned. The only result of all this
is that a lot more terrorists will be available for active duty.
One may recall that I was willing to pay this kind of price
for the release of Gilad Shalit who was held captive by Hamas terrorists for years.
That was worth the price. The life of an innocent soldier was saved. I do not
regret that decision one iota. Nor would I regret the same decision now if a
true peace could be achieved. But I will go out on a limb and say that this has
about as much chance happening as does as my growing wheels and becoming a locomotive.
That said I understand why Israel did it.It was because Israel’s best friend, the United
States, pushed for it. They cannot say no to this push for peace. Especially since
they have ignored US requests to stop building in the settlements. And the fact that this demand was dropped by the Palestinians as a precondition too. Which is
something Israel has been insisting on- peace talks without any preconditions. Israel can’t say no to everything.
So even though I don’t see anything good coming out of this,
I don’t necessarily see anything bad coming out of it either. Israel will
continue to do its due diligence with respect to protecting its people from any
harm - including the harm attempted by the newly released terrorists. I hope –
and believe – they will continue to be just as successful against these
terrorists as they have been with those released in the Shalit deal. But in my
view these new negotiations are a big waste of time.
