A free and independent Palestine alongside a safe and secure Israel is not an impossible dream
by Daoud Kuttab
Media Monitors Network, 1 April 2002
A free and independent Palestine alongside a safe and secure Israel is not an impossible dream
by Daoud Kuttab
In dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict, there seems to be a major
problem in deciding what the time reference is. Listening to US Secretary
of State Colin Powell on Friday, one got the impression that for America,
history begins and ends with the last suicide bombing against Israelis.
Attacks against civilians anywhere are reprehensible
and must be condemned.
The Middle East conflict needs to be seen in the
larger context of a people wishing to end the 21 century's only remaining
foreign military occupation of a civilian population.
In 1967, Israel occupied Arab territories in a flagrant
contravention of international norms. At the time, the United Nations Security
Council called that occupation "inadmissible" and called on Israel to withdrew
from the occupied territories.
Not only is there need to take into consideration
the 35-year-old Israeli occupation, but the US and others must also note
the illegal Jewish settlements that have been planted in occupied Palestinian
territories in contradiction to the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The present situation can also be seen in a much
closer time frame. Let us take the past week only. First, the Israelis
refused to allow Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to participate in the
Arab summit that was scheduled to take place in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
They imposed humiliating conditions on Arafat, were he to leave for Beirut
and concerning his return. The Arab summit which Arafat was denied from
attending was not a war council against the state of Israel, but rather
a conference that was scheduled to give unanimous Arab backing to a Saudi
peace initiative.
Arafat was not the only Palestinian besieged and
humiliated. Three million Palestinians have been similarly besieged and
humiliated for nearly a year-and-a-half. International efforts to permit
Arafat to attend this conference failed. Even a public plea from the United
States didn't persuade the Israelis to change their mind. They were trying
to blackmail Arafat into making political concessions in return for this
permission to attend the Arab summit. Many warned against the consequence
of this humiliation to Palestinians and Arabs.
The mass-circulating Israeli daily Maariv quoted
the hawkish Israeli defence minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, as predicting
that Palestinians will respond violently to this grave humiliation of their
democratically elected leader. But despite these warnings, the Israelis
insisted to deny Arafat permission to leave.
Arab leaders and the Arab public were angry but
the Arab summit went on as planned. Arafat, who spoke by video from under
Israeli siege, publicly supported the Saudi peace initiative. He even used
the occasion to call Israel to positively respond to the plea for a comprehensive
peace for the sake of "our children and your children". The opposite happened
after the Arab leaders unanimously approved a peace plan which provided
an historic opportunity for Israel to become a normal part of the Middle
East. All Israel needed to do was to agree to withdraw to the internationally
recognised borders in order to be accepted as a "normal" state in the region.
Israelis should have been dancing in the streets, but instead, a low-level
spokesman said his country accepts the word "normal" but is not ready to
provide the "withdrawal" price.
True, a terrible explosion occurred during this
period that caused the death of 20 Israelis and the injury of many who
were attending a Passover meal. The Palestinian National Authority immediately
condemned this act of terrorism committed by a hardline Islamic group.
A few weeks earlier, the US administration had dispatched a special envoy.
They had said that they were committed to reaching a ceasefire and knew
that many radicals on both sides would try to derail this process. Before
the latest escalation in violence, US envoy, General Anthony Zinni was
quoted as saying that progress was made in trying to reach a ceasefire
agreement.
When Yitzhak Rabin found himself in a similar position,
he stated that Israel will spend a week mourning the dead and on the eighth
day they would be back to the negotiations. He knew that radicals on both
sides don't want peace. He paid for his search for this elusive peace with
his life.
The current cycle of violence is destructive. Each
side can point to this or that date or this or that massacre as the reason
for their actions. There has to be courage to break this cycle. The United
States has an obligation not to take sides or to "understand Israel's needs".
Its responsibilities as the sponsor of the peace process require it to
look at the larger picture. Instead of dealing with the history of this
conflict based on the latest suicide bombing, the US needs to focus on
President George W. Bush's words calling for an end to the occupation and
the creation of the state of Palestine alongside of Israel.
The Arab peace plan that was approved in Beirut
provides a perfect vehicle to reach a comprehensive solution to this decades-long
conflict. A free and independent Palestine alongside a safe and secure
Israel is not an impossible dream.
Daoud Kuttab is a journalist who covered both intifadas and Director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University in Jerusalem.
Source:
by courtesy & © 2002Daoud Kuttab & Arabic Media Internet
Network (AMIN)
by the same authror:
Settlements Must Go
Negotiations, Settlements & Resistance
The Need of International Observers
Fasting Frustrations
Modern Magi Journey For Peace
Clinton's Sanitized Proposal
Executing Scapegoats
More in Archive..
Copyright © 2002Media Monitors Network. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Links referenced within this article
Daoud Kuttab & Arabic Media Internet Network (AMIN)
http://www.amin.org
Settlements Must Go
http://www.mediamonitors.net/kuttab1.html
Negotiations, Settlements & Resistance
http://www.mediamonitors.net/kuttab3.html
The Need of International Observers
http://www.mediamonitors.net/kuttab1.html
Fasting Frustrations
http://www.mediamonitors.net/kuttab4.html
Modern Magi Journey For Peace
http://www.mediamonitors.net/kuttab5.html
Clinton's Sanitized Proposal
http://www.mediamonitors.net/kuttab6.html
Executing Scapegoats
http://www.mediamonitors.net/kuttab7.html
More in Archive..
http://www.mediamonitors.net/archive.html#poetry
Copyright
http://www.mediamonitors.net/copyright.html
Media Monitors Network
http://www.mediamonitors.net
Find this article at:
http://www.mediamonitors.net/kuttab46.html
senden