WHISSON: Palestine peace quest is no Gordian knot

A4P:

August 4, 2010

by Alex Whisson - The Australian - 4 August 2010

TEN years on from the Camp David talks, not only is the Israel-Palestine conflict no closer to being resolved, it is entering a dangerous phase.

The phase is marked by the rise of extremism and intransigence in both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet and the Knesset.

The initial high hopes that Barack Obama would breathe new life into a comatose peace process were soon dashed by Tel Aviv’s extraordinary defiance of the US President’s modest May 2009 appeal for a freeze on all settlement construction. Indeed, within six months, the US administration was forced into a humiliating backdown, and instead agreed to a unilateral 10-month moratorium.

In announcing the “freeze”, Netanyahu made it clear the measure would not apply to “existing construction” or “public buildings essential for normal life in the settlements”. Nor would it have any bearing on the rapid growth of illegal Jewish colonies in East Jerusalem. “We do not put any restrictions on building in our sovereign capital,” was the Prime Minister’s reasoning.

Since then the world witnessed the continuing demolition of homes in East Jerusalem, especially in the neighbourhoods of Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah; the now infamous announcement that 1600 homes would be built in the Ramat Shlomo settlement, made during a visit to Israel by US Vice-President Joe Biden; and the aggressive public championing of settlement growth by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

These developments make a complete mockery of both US Middle East envoy George Mitchell’s on-again, off-again attempts to restart direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and Tel Aviv’s willingness to negotiate in good faith should such talks ever take place.

Meanwhile, Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza, which has left 10 per cent of Gazan children malnourished and 15 per cent stunted in their growth, does not in any way contribute to the restarting of peace talks.

In fact, the September 2007 decision by former prime minister Ehud Olmert’s security cabinet to declare the Gaza Strip an “enemy entity” and to impose a blockade on food, fuel, water, medicine and other essential supplies has harmed Israel’s own interests.

The more brutal the Israeli army’s assaults on the civilian population of Gaza, the more likely are their leaders to resist, thus increasing their popularity.

Some commentators have hailed as a sign of real progress last week’s decision by the Arab League to lend its in-principle support to face-to-face talks between Netanyahu and Abbas.

Assuming the two men are made to sit at the same table, and leaving aside the fact such a scenario seems as improbable as ever after last weekend’s exchange of rocket fire, talks are unlikely to produce a positive outcome given Israel’s history of intransigence and Netanyahu’s demands for preconditions before direct talks even begin.

It is vital that international pressure be brought to bear on Israel to force it to the negotiating table. Should Netanyahu remain intransigent, renege on signed agreements, or in any way manipulate loopholes in the text of those agreements, the political costs of doing so would be so great that they would spell the end of his political career as well as lead to the total isolation of Israel from the family of nations. Whether that pressure comes from the US, the UN Security Council, the Quartet, or the burgeoning international Palestinian solidarity movement remains to be seen. What matters is that it be made known to Tel Aviv that it can no longer act with impunity.

Despite being depicted as a Gordian knot by almost all mainstream commentators, particularly those with a pro-Israel bent, the means of beginning the process of moving towards a final peace settlement are maddeningly plain to see for anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the conflict.

There are four measures the Netanyahu government could adopt as an opening gambit on the pathway to peace: an end to the construction of all illegal Jewish colonies in the occupied Palestinian territories, including in East Jerusalem, and including all building work related to the so-called “natural growth” of existing settlements; the total and unconditional lifting of the blockade of Gaza; the dismantlement of the illegal wall/fence; the beginning of a dialogue with the Palestinians which ought to lead to direct talks, not just with Fatah but with the actually elected Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh.

However, Netanyahu and his successors are unlikely to listen to reason as long as the US continues to provide $US3 billion ($3.3bn) a year in “aid” to Israel and all the key players in the international community (including Australia) persist in lending carte blanche support to the Netanyahu government.

Cutting the Gordian knot is no easy matter. Yet, grassroots activists in the past five years have begun untying it. The emergence of new activist Jewish and non-Jewish groups supporting a boycott and divestment campaign against Israeli products and cultural institutions are beginning to make breakthroughs in the region’s most intractable conflict.

Aiding this way forward are the ultra-rightist postures by Israel’s leaders, whose resort to extreme repressive methods and criminal acts have recently and finally shocked people into action. Until Israel is held to account, there will never be true peace and stability in the region, or indeed the world.

Alex Whisson is the public advocate for Australians for Palestine

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