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Indecent Proposal
Hussein Ibish,
AlterNet
June 20, 2002
Viewed on June 21, 2002
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All indications suggest that President Bush's anticipated peace plan
for Palestinians and Israelis will only deepen the confusion regarding U.S.
policy.
Conflicting and contradictory statements from senior officials have
left people throughout the region, and many in the United States, at a loss
in trying to make out what the administration plans to do.
Now Bush is expected to recommend the creation of an "interim" Palestinian
state as the key element in ending 20 months of carnage. Apparently he will
propose taking the status quo of nominal Palestinian rule in 40 percent of
the West Bank and renaming it a state, although it would not have the rights
and responsibilities of an actual state. This idea is not simply a nonstarter,
it is nonsense.
Interim independence and partial sovereignty make as much sense politically
as a woman being somewhat pregnant. Independence and sovereignty are either
fully realized or meaningless.
Much the same may be said about the president's repeated calls for
the Palestinian Authority to become democratic. While Palestinian reforms
are clearly needed, it is absurd to speak of creating a democracy among noncitizens
of a nonstate under a foreign military occupation and without meaningful
sovereignty.
What is available under such conditions is, at best, the democracy
of a high school student council, not that of a free people in a sovereign
republic. Americans are heirs to a grand tradition of insight about the basic
requirements of liberty and independent self-government -- concepts that
are casually betrayed by the facile blather about democracy without citizenship.
Meanwhile, Israeli and Palestinian extremists are busy ensuring that
the conflict deteriorates to the point where no plan will stop the killing.
The intensity, viciousness and frequency of Palestinian suicide attacks
against Israeli civilians have only increased as a result of Israel's recent
rampages and the sacking of many West Bank cities. Israel's plan, announced
Wednesday, to reoccupy Palestinian-ruled areas is not a change of policy;
it's a continuation of Israeli behavior over the last five months. More of
the same will meet with just as little success.
And Israel's new "security fence" is another chimera offered up by
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who continues to feed his people the
illusion that the Palestinian uprising can be crushed and the occupation
then continued in peace and security.
According to numerous reports, Sharon told a closed meeting of the
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that there would be no
peace deal for at least 10 years; that Israel was prepared for a 100-year
struggle; that a Palestinian state was out of the question any time soon;
and that the key to Israel's security was 1 million new Jewish immigrants.
The irony is that, in spite of the ascendancy of radicals on both
sides, there is much for a genuinely committed White House to work with.
The Palestinians still have a secular leadership that is committed
to establishing an independent state alongside Israel and that is not, as
many falsely claim, dedicated to its destruction. A recent working paper
presented to the Bush administration by senior Palestinian officials reiterates
several far-reaching concessions made in the 2001 Taba talks regarding borders,
Jerusalem, demilitarization and refugees.
The majority of Israelis are still in favor of a two-state solution,
and serious progress would surely revive the dormant Israeli peace movement.
The plan forwarded by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and adopted by the Arab
League provides an excellent basis for multi-party talks designed to create
a permanent peace based on total Arab recognition of Israel, provided the
occupation ends.
Most important, the Bush administration can proceed on the basis of
its own stated positions --including support for an independent Palestinian
state -- which, if translated into proactive policies, would constitute a
decisive intervention on behalf of peace. What Bush needs to do is embrace
his own vision, base U.S. policy on this vision and create a practical plan
to bring it quickly into effect.
Despite the extremists, such a policy would enjoy powerful support
from a majority of Americans, Israelis and Palestinians, as well as other
Arabs. It would offer the only real chance in the foreseeable future to end
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Hussein Ibish is communications director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
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