Encountering Peace: Let's not talk? (Gershon Baskin, Jerusalem Post)
Gershon Baskin
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Encountering Peace: Let’s not talk?
By GERSHON BASKIN
07/11/2011
President Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad are the most determined
Palestinian leaders against the use the violence in the Palestinian
struggle.
Shortly before Binyamin Netanyahu began his first term of office as prime
minister in 1996, the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority
agreed to create an environmental experts’ committee to undertake the
planning and implementation of much needed cooperation on environmental
issues. Committee members from both sides were dedicated scientists and
environmentalists and were anxious to advance projects that would protect
the land, clean up polluted wadis, develop sewage treatment plants and much
more. In the aftermath of the change of regimes in Israel, after the Rabin
assassination and the failure of Shimon Peres to win the elections, the
newly elected Netanyahu set out to freeze the peace process that he was not
really committed to.
The immediate Palestinian response, like a knee-jerk reaction, was to freeze
contact with Israelis at the official level. This was just fine with the
Netanyahu government. The Oslo process had created some 26 joint committees
crossing almost every avenue of government affairs. One by one, the joint
committees ceased to function. Scheduling meetings became impossible as each
side conveniently found good excuses not to meet.
One exception was the newly formed environment experts committee.
Together, the Israeli head of the committee, Dr. Shmuel Brenner, the
associate deputy director-general of the Environment Ministry, and the
Palestinian head, Dr. Mohammed Hmaidi, the director-general of the
Palestinian Ministry of Environment, approached the Israel Palestine Center
for Research and Information, with a request for our organization to
facilitate “unofficial meetings of officials.” The officials could not meet
officially, so with the environment in mind and the understanding that
cooperation was essential, these two senior government employees found a way
to “beat the system” in the interests of both parties, knowing that nothing
good can be achieved by not talking.
Despite official decisions not to meet, unofficial contacts continued and
mutually beneficial relationships developed that were in the interests of
both sides.
I WAS reminded of these unofficial meetings this week as we are once again
in the situation where Israeli and Palestinian officials will not talk to
each other. With the exception of continued security cooperation at the
field level, and perhaps some continued talk between those who have
responsibility for day-to-day issues concerning commerce, Palestinian and
Israeli officials have been instructed by their superiors not to meet.
Twice in the past week, we have experienced “scheduling problems” when
trying to bring together a small group of Israeli and Palestinian officials
for closed-room discussions on economic issues. Officials from the Israeli
Ministry of Foreign Affairs were refused permission to attend a workshop on
joint planning issues with Palestinian counterparts. But they were in good
company, because the Palestinian officials were also told not to participate
by their superiors.
At the most senior levels, Palestinians have decided to refuse Israeli
offers to resume negotiations. Their point of view is based on years of
frustration of the failure of the peace talks as they witness on a daily
basis parts of their homeland being developed under their watchful eyes as
Israeli settlements. Palestinians had hoped that the international
community, backed by the determined words of US President Barack Obama,
would force Israel to stop settlement building. But this did not happen.
The Palestinians, having made the decision to go to the UN to bring the
Palestinian issue back to the international community, now face the
frustrating reality of failure with no chance of gaining membership in the
UN at this time. The aim of going to the UN was to create a game changer –
an act that would empower them and attempt to level the playing field to
some extent. But Israel has maintained the stronger hand and with its
influence and American support has managed to prevent Palestinian success in
the international arena. With US funding to UNESCO now being cut, even the
UN Secretary General is recommending the Palestinians drop their plans to
achieve membership in additional UN bodies.
US aid to the Palestinians is now frozen and with no financial rescue coming
from the Arab world, the Palestinians need to come up with a new plan. In
essence, both sides do. The no-talks reality is not in the interest of
either party. But before coming to the conclusion that talk they must, it
seems we are still in for more tactical steps, perhaps threats that delay
the inevitable and place some very dangerous possibilities in front of us.
The Palestinians are considering shutting down the Palestinian Authority.
There is talk of immediate elections with Mahmoud Abbas stepping down. There
is a possibility of financial collapse and with it the many achievements of
state building and security consolidation going down the tubes.
Israeli actions influencing the US Congress to freeze support for the PA
along with the illegal Israeli action of freezing the transfer of
Palestinian funds collected by Israel, as part of the Oslo agreement, shake
the very foundation of the Palestinian Authority and increase the risk of
collapse and a return to violence.
President Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad are the most determined
Palestinian leaders against the use the violence in the Palestinian
struggle. It is futile and wrong to seek to punish them. Likewise it is also
clear that the strategy of not returning to the table is equally futile and
wrong. Even if the chances of reaching a comprehensive negotiated agreement
at this time with this Israeli government seem close to nil, there is no
longer a legitimate reason to reject talking.
Come to the table, make your case, in private and in public, convince the
world and the Israeli public of your peaceful intentions. No one has ever
made peace by not talking.
The writer is the Co-CEO of IPCRI, the Israel Palestine Center for Research
and Information, a columnist for The Jerusalem Post and a radio host on All
for Peace Radio.
Gershon Baskin, Ph.D.
P.O. Box 9321, Jerusalem 91092
Cellphone: +972-(0)52-238-1715
gersho...@gmail.com
gershonbaskin on twitter
gershonbas on skype
P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
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