A real Mideast peace process should look different
Before anyone utters the words 'peace process,' Israel should consider making what used to be known as 'confidence-building measures.' Otherwise, talk of peace is just empty words.
By Gideon Levy | Feb.21, 2013 |
A moment before our attention shifts once more to the chatter about peace and the nonsense about the talks, about Barack Obama’s upcoming visit and Tzipi Livni’s appointment as “chief negotiator,” it would be good if we remembered what people ought to mean when they utter the words “peace process.” Not another round of negotiations, endless meetings and photo opportunities. We’ve already had enough of those to spare, and they led nowhere. The solution has long been known, and it could have been carried out long ago.
A real peace process should look different. It is not an outline by Bill Clinton or George Bush, but an outline of peace. Such an outline cannot start at the negotiating table; That is where it should end. Israel must first show its good intentions – intentions that have always been absent at its table. A real peace process must start on the ground. After 46 years, the burden of proof of intent to end the occupation rests on Israel’s shoulders. The Palestinian Authority did its part long ago by declaring its intentions, ceasing terrorism and engaging in security cooperation with Israel.
The proof must come from Israel now, and it must be in deeds, not words. If Israel really desires peace – and it is quite doubtful that this is so – it must engage in a series of acts that were once known as “confidence-building measures.” Without them, the Palestinians have no reason to join another masquerade whose entire purpose, for Israel, is to placate the Americans and look good for Europe. Everyone – from the devotees of the talks to Benjamin Netanyahu to Yair Lapid – admits it.
The first step is, of course, to freeze construction in the settlements. A country that intends to return land doesn’t build on it. That’s elementary. Afterward, prisoners should be released. A country that unjustly puts people who were released in a prisoner exchange back in jail conveys every message but one of peace. A country that jails thousands of prisoners, some of whom are political prisoners in every way, deprived of rights and severely discriminated against, is not conveying good intentions either.
It is not hard to guess the kind of turnabout in consciousness Palestinian society will undergo if it gets to see at least some of its offspring return to their homes, some after decades of imprisonment, without a deal, without a kidnapping, without pressure, solely as a demonstration of Israel’s good will. That will bring about immediate change. But for that to happen, we must first free ourselves from the bad, old pattern of zero-sum-game thinking that has accompanied the occupation from the first, according to which everything that is good for the Palestinians is bad for Israel.
Afterward, we must stop the thefts and expulsions. We must stop the ethnic cleansing of the Jordan Valley and the southern Hebron hills, stop expelling shepherds from their pastures and farmers from their fields. Enough designating land as firing ranges, which is nothing more than a cover for a mini-transfer. Enough demolishing homes that were constructed illegally according to a law that never permits them to be built. Enough with the “requirements of natural increase,” which only the settlers have. Enough with the “nature reserves,” which is also expulsion in disguise.
The Civil Administration – a euphemism for martial law – must prove that Israel wants the “process.” The time has come to end the nighttime raids on villages, the arrest of children and nonviolent demonstrators and brutal searches in the dead of night. It is also time to stop evicting people from their homes over pre-1948 purchase rights that apply only to Jews. The military court system must also make changes, as must IDF commanders in the territories: not every Palestinian is a suspicious object.
Israel’s good intent must also include opening its gates to the controlled entry of workers from the territories. Police officers and Border Police troops, who go after illegal aliens – people who wish only to find work in Israel because they have no alternative – are not agents of change; Palestinian workers who find a livelihood in Israel actually are.
All these measures are possible. They are obligated by reality for those who wish to change that reality, and they do not endanger security. What's necessary is good intentions. Those who declare themselves in favor of a peace process must take these measures. All the rest is nothing but empty words.
ARI SHAVIT/ Yair Lapid's crucial choice
If the Yesh Atid leader insists on keeping strange bedfellows with Habayit Hayehudi, a settlement freeze is unlikely – and peace prospects will suffer.
Yair Lapid, the chairman of Yesh Atid, wants to be prime minister. Okay, good. Lapid doesn’t have the experience necessary to be prime minister. Okay, good. But Lapid has impressive political skills, which he demonstrated during the election campaign. Okay, good. Therefore, in order to prove that he is indeed worthy of being prime minister in the future, the good Israeli needs to prove he is a good reader of the reality map. He has to prove he knows how to distinguish between what is important and what is not.
Here is the map of reality: The Middle Eastern order has collapsed. The lineup of stabilizing powers that enabled us to be here in a reasonable way for decades no longer exists. Iran is on the verge of becoming nuclear. In Egypt there is instability. Syria is coming apart. Hamas controls the Gaza Strip and is threatening to take over Judea and Samaria as well.
In this state of affairs it is perfectly clear that in order to maintain deterrence and to defend its borders, Israel will have to use force in various sectors from time to time. In order to use force Israel will need legitimacy. Therefore, for the sake of security, Israel must immediately freeze construction in the settlements that are not inside the large settlement blocs. Only the right freeze will grant Israel the legitimacy credit it needs to in order to protect its existence.
Here is another corner of the map of reality: About 360,000 Israelis are living in Judea and Samaria today. In the past four years the number of settlers increased by about 65,000. In the coming four years the number is liable to increase by 100,000. No one knows exactly what the point of no return is, but the point of no return exists. Beyond a certain line, from which we are not far, the partition of the land will become impossible and Israel will become a bi-national state. Therefore, for the sake of Zionism, Israel must immediately freeze construction in the settlements that are not inside the large settlement blocs. Only the right freeze will grant Israel a future.
If Lapid is reading the map of the reality and is distinguishing between what is important and what is not, there is only one policy conclusion: The 33rd government of the state of Israel must be the freeze government. Yes, it has to deal with sharing the country's economic burden, with intelligence and moderation. Yes, it has to change the system of government, with wisdom and caution. Yes, it has to see to education, housing and health. But the government must strive for all these exalted domestic aims at a time when Israel has a strong defense and foreign policy edifice, based on a freeze of construction in the settlements. Without the right freeze, Israel is liable to find itself reaping a whirlwind that will prevent it from dealing with the depth problems of Israeli society and the Israeli state.
If Lapid is reading the reality map and distinguishing between what is important and what is not, there is only one political conclusion: The 33rd government of Israel must be a Likud-center-ultra-Orthodox government. It must consist of Likud Beiteinu, Yesh Atid, Shas, Hatnuah and Kadima. There is no room for the cynical alliance between Lapid and Habayit Hayehudi chairman Naftali Bennett. The sane center’s longing for a change must not be subordinated to Gush Emunim’s settlement lust. Yesh Atid MK Ruth Calderon’s beautiful values must not be shackled to Rabbi Zalman Melamed and Rabbi Dov Lior’s racism and exclusion of women. It is impossible to talk about the Israeli sovereign and walk hand in hand with the rabbis of refusal – who encourage their soldier-followers to disobey army orders – and Zalman Melamed the encouragers of refusal in the National Union and Tekuma, factions within Habayit Hayehudi.
The coming days are crucial days. If Lapid reads (belatedly) the map of the reality and distinguishes (belatedly) between what is important and what is not, he could endow Israel with a government in which there is quite a lot of hope. But if Lapid sticks to his strange alliance with Habayit Hayehudi he will force that party on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, thereby preventing the freeze, encouraging the swelling fanaticism and undermining the Israeli home.
Is this the future the Israelis who voted for Yesh Atid sought? Is this the proof that Lapid has the qualifications necessary for becoming prime minister in the future? The choice is Yair’s.
