To The Editor,
Feb 19, 2011
Recent events in the Arab/Muslim world demonstrate that agreements Israel previously made with unelected Arab leaders can not be considered long term binding agreements, especially at a time where the suppressed people in this region are awakening and demanding their inalienable rights.
The style of governance in much of the Arab/Muslim world over the last half century has been largely autocratic. The secret police in these countries act on behalf of the autocracy. The visible police force also acts on behalf of the autocracy and secondly as servants of the public. The army acts in a similar way, as a protector of the autocracy but also acts in defense of the nation’s borders as well.
In Egypt there was a confluence between the protesters and the army and ultimately the uniformed police. This confluence was powerful enough to overwhelm the non uniformed secret police and other government agents who were attempting to keep the regime in place.
In Egypt it is the generals who now call the shots. They control the heaviest weapons.
When we look at Israel – Palestine, the situation is very different. There is no army to keep order if the leadership is deposed. The question arises as to who represents the will of the Palestinians? And what is the true will of the Palestinian people?
I think part of the answer to that question was provided by your own research. The Palestinians of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem may have very different aspirations. They are not a united people and as such Israel really has to deal separately with each division until the time when there is a more united Palestinian populace, a populace that seeks a solution that both sides can live with.
Clearly Gaza is isolated and is not under a leadership that holds intentions for peace with Israel. This is made clear in the Hamas Charter. It is up to the people of Gaza, if they are indeed tired of what they have endured under their current leadership to choose a leadership that Israel could consider serious partners in negotiation, not simply negotiating a hudna. The people of Gaza have endured a lot of misery. This certainly has affected them and their opinion of Israel. Had I been born in Gaza, I would probably feel the same way.
What is of interest with regards to the Gaza Palestinians are events in Iran. If the regime in Iran falls, then the Iranian support for Hezbollah and to some extent Hamas falls with it,especially if the Syrian regime falls. This could work towards the undermining of the extremist factions of Gaza and could help unite the Palestinians of Gaza under a more moderate leadership.
As the editor stated in a previous article, many of the East Jerusalem Arabs do not want to forgo the benefits they have in Israel and do not want to be ruled by a regime in Ramallah they view as corrupt.
Thirdly, we have the West Bank Palestinians who are now speaking out against their leadership, a leadership which may not have much time left and has lost credibility with its populace since the Al Jazeera leaks. But one must be cautious as there is criticism that the Palestinians were sold out by their leaders, this reflecting perhaps that the true will of the West Bank population is to not be as flexible as those that negotiated on their behalf.
There are two more Palestinian groups to consider. One group lives in refugees camps, the other live in other countries. We also must consider the will of the Palestinian population that lives outside of Israel. If they are not incorporated into a solution there will never be peace.
If there is to be a comprehensive,top down solution negotiated with the Arab league, then the Palestinian refugees who are living in camps and will not be returning to Israel will need to be economically integrated into those countries as part of the solution. They need to be compensated if they will not be returning, as do the Pals who live in other countries, as do the Jews of Arab lands who lost everything in the 50’s when they were made refugees.
So right now, Israel is not negotiating with the representatives of the majority of the Palestinian people some who live inside many who live outside of the region.
First the Palestinians need to unite under one leadership (even the Palestinians who live in the refugee camps and in other countries need to be in agreement with this leadership )
If they elect a moderate leadership, then there is room to move forward. If they elect Hamas as they did in the past, then there will be no room to move forward as all that will be negotiated is another hudna and Israel will simply stall and entrench herself more deeply. As it is, even Abbas was calling for a Jew free Palestinian state. That alone does not give Israelis much confidence in what kind of neighbours they would have under his leadership. This kind of attitude will have to end.
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Israelis themselves should take peace with the Palestinians out of their leadership’s hands and begin doing the small things to encourage goodwill with the everyday Palestinian people. Just behaving decently is half the battle. The solution it seems will have to emerge as much from the grass roots level as the political level as it seems the politicians on both sides are more interested in something other than acomprehensive resolution to the problem.
Anonymous, Winnipeg