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Encountering Peace: Negotiating about negotiations
Nov. 9, 2009
Gershon Baskin , THE JERUSALEM POST
For the past two weeks I have traveled cross-country in the US speaking
in synagogues, churches, mosques and universities. My message to my
audiences has been one of hope. I have met Jewish communities in deep
division. I have found communities (Jews and non-Jews) in deep conflict
between those who define themselves as "pro-Israeli" and those who are
"pro-Palestinian." Some of the organizers who brought me to speak used
my presence to enable these two groups to speak to each other, because
the divide over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has removed civility
from their ability to communicate.
In my talks I have said something that has shocked many, as it seems so
remote from the current comprehension of events in our region. "Peace,"
I said, "could actually be closer than ever before!"
I say this because never before has it been clearer what the parameters
of Israeli-Palestinian peace are, and never before has the global
consensus on those parameters been so overwhelming.
Binyamin Netanyahu's recognition of the need to make peace within the
two- states-for-two-peoples framework has propelled the possibility for
this to become reality. Netanyahu's reservations must be addressed. The
threats are real, and therefore real solutions to them must be developed
to enable Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and from the Palestinian
parts of Jerusalem.
The answer to the potential security threats of the Palestinian state is
not the continuation of the occupation. It is time for us to all recall
that the Jewish liberation movement, Zionism, was not about conquering
Arab land and imposing our occupation on another people. It was about
liberating the Jewish people from the shackles of dispersion and
liberating their creative spirit to create a society and a state based
on the Prophetic values of justice and common good.
MAHMOUD ABBAS has declared that he will not run in the next Palestinian
elections. I personally sent him my best wishes and hope that he changes
his mind. We have not heard if he also intends to resign from the other
positions that he holds, most importantly as chairman of the executive
committee of the PLO. It is in that capacity that he negotiates with the
State of Israel. As a member of the generation that founded the PLO, it
is more than symbolically important that he lead the movement of
Palestinian liberation toward the final struggle of achieving real
statehood and peace with Israel.
Both sides have once again conveniently fallen into the trap (that they
themselves create) of negotiating about negotiations. Perhaps the
overenthusiasm of the Obama administration, which so much wants to
achieve progress here, has, without being fully conscious of those
dynamics, placed the trap itself. President Barack Obama has had more
urgent and pressing matters on his narrow shoulders which directly
concern the welfare of the US than almost any president before him.
Obama and his administration have to deal with the global financial
crisis, health care reform, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, threats
regarding the future of Pakistan and Iran, and only after that comes the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But it is time for Obama to make some real
time for confronting his strategy on this conflict.
Obama said in Cairo that resolving the Israeli-Arab conflict is a US
national strategic interest. It is in fact an international strategic
interest. As such, it cannot be left to the veto of the Israelis and the
Palestinians any longer. There is no chance that the Israelis and the
Palestinians will reach any bilateral negotiated agreement, therefore it
is not only a waste of time and precious energy on negotiating the
negotiations, it is a waste of time to make efforts to bring the two
parties to the table right now. They have serious homework to do before
coming to the table, as do the leaders of the Quartet.
THE QUARTET, led by the US should:
1. Give the parties six months to present their own versions of a peace
treaty taking into account all of the issues, needs, interests, threat
perceptions and means for dealing with them.
2. Spend three months integrating the two treaties into the Quartet
parameters. If there is no plan from one or both parties, the Quartet
will still draw up its own plan.
3. An additional six months will be spent negotiating on the means to
implement the plan. Differences between the parties will be resolved
through bridging proposals put on the table by the Quartet.
4. The Quartet will make preparations for the creation of an
international force led by the US (without US troops) containing a
military, a policing and a civilian monitoring force (under the command
of a US general) and with a US administration, with the participation of
EU troops, Russians and others. The force will be stationed in the
Palestinian state and will facilitate the Israeli withdrawal from
Palestine and provide security guarantees for both states. Security can
no longer be entrusted to bilateral arrangements as it was in the past.
The security discourse must be advanced from the idea that Palestinians
are providing security to Israel. This is rejected by both sides. The
new discourse must be one of mutual security. There will be no security
unless both sides feel secure from the threats of the other.
5. Even after Israeli withdrawal, there is a possibility that there will
remain a law- abiding Jewish minority in the Palestinian state and this
is a good development. The rights and treatment of the national
minorities in each state should be linked to each other.
6. A UN Security Council resolution detailing the parameters of peace,
of Palestinian and Israeli statehood and full Palestinian membership in
the UN comes in at this stage.
7. The next Palestinian elections are held for the government of the
state of Palestine and not for the Palestinian Authority.
8. The West Bank-Gaza link (tunnel, bridge, sunken road or a
combination) will be constructed at this stage - as soon as possible and
brought to about one kilometer of Gaza until there is a change in the
political situation in Gaza. In any event, the peace treaty is based on
the West Bank and Gaza, and will apply to Gaza as soon as possible.
9. The economic siege on Gaza must end because it is empowering Hamas
and weakening the allies of peace.
There are many more details which must be included, but the space for
this article is far too limited for that.
The writer is the Co-CEO of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and
Information (www.ipcri.org) and a member of the leadership of the Green
Movement Party in Israel.
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Gershon Baskin, Ph.D. Co-CEO, IPCRI
Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information
P.O. Box 9321, Jerusalem 91092
Tel: +972-2-676-9460 Fax: +972-2-676-8011
Cellphone: +972-(0)52-238-1715
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"There is a virtual consensus across the international community not
just as to what needs to happen, but how...which was not the case a
couple of years ago," Tony Blair
"The Security Council reiterates its commitment to the irreversibility
of
the bilateral negotiations built upon previous agreements and
obligations. The
Council reiterates its call for renewed and urgent efforts by the
parties and the
international community to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting
peace in
the Middle East, based on the vision of a region where two democratic
States,
Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and
recognized
borders."
UN Security Council President speaking on behalf of the Council, May 11,
2009
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