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Better occupation than a partial peace
By Aluf Benn
Tags: Peace talks, Mahmoud Abbas 

"It is possible to reach understandings with the Palestinians by the end of the year," says Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and proposes that the deal be hurried up and closed.

"The proposals of my Israeli counterparts are a partial peace, and that is not the way to progress," replied Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Which of the two is telling the truth, and who is lying? Is a historic agreement to establish a Palestinian state in reach, or is it still far away? And how can it be that both leaders describe such different realities after all their meetings?

The gap between Olmert's and Abbas' statements in recent days do not result from a lack of truthfulness, but rather a profound gap between two fundamental viewpoints. One is from Mars, the other from Venus. What one side presents as a concession, the other views as an insult or trick to avoid making a decision. That is how it has been since the very first days of the negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
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The Israeli approach, rooted in the beginnings of Jewish settlement in Israel, espouses progress through creating facts on the ground. That is how the state was founded and built. To paraphrase A. D. Gordon, another dunam, another goat, another kibbutz and another settlement; another tank and another Phantom, and then all of the land is in our hands. That is what Israel is offering the Palestinians. When we offer you something, take it, and then we will see how we progress further. Start with a small state, demilitarized and surrounded by fences and Israeli soldiers, and then we can see what comes later.

The Palestinians have different ideas. They insist on the recognition of their "rights" as anchored in UN decisions, and then they will talk about details. First Israel should recognize the principles of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, without any security constraints and with East Jerusalem as its capital; Israel should also recognize the refugees' right of return and compensation payments for the occupation, and then we will see how to implement it.

Like Yasser Arafat eight years ago, Abbas rejects the Israeli proposal and insists that occupation is preferable to a partial peace. Either the Palestinians receive full sovereignty over their state, or they will continue to wait at the roadblocks. Israelis find it hard to understand this maximalist approach. After all, Abbas is complaining about the expansion of the settlements and the theft of Palestinian land: Why doesn't he settle for less than his full aspirations, and in the meantime force Israel to stop construction in the settlements and start the retreat from the West Bank?

The Palestinians reply that they have already given up 78 percent of their historic homeland, and are not willing to compromise on less than the remaining 22 percent in the West Bank and Gaza. They present their case using maps of the Land of Israel showing how Palestinian territory has gradually shrunk from the entire country during the British Mandate to today's enclaves, closed off by fences and roadblocks. They have forgotten that between the various maps, their leadership turned down offers of partition and decided to go to war - and lost. "The shelf agreement" Olmert is offering them is not as good as the "permanent agreement" prime minister Ehud Barak offered them in 2000, mostly because in the meantime the Palestinians lost the second intifada, and Fatah lost Gaza to Hamas. That is the price of failure.

The Palestinians are using as their model the end of British colonial rule in India, Asia and Africa: full independence and a complete withdrawal of the foreign presence. But that is not the only model for ending an occupation. In Ireland a religious and nationalistic dispute has been going on for hundreds of years. After the Irish revolt during World War I, the British offered to end their rule of the neighboring island. The agreement, reached finally in 1921, promised the Irish approximately what Olmert is offering Abbas today. The British kept their "settlement blocs" in Northern Ireland, and Irish sovereignty in the south remained under the auspices of the empire based in London. The British fleet continued to control Irish ports.

The compromise produced a civil war in which the Irish leader, Michael Collins, was murdered after he signed the agreement with Britain. His great rival, Eamon de Valera, the Irish Ben-Gurion, retreated from his maximalist position. After gaining power, de Valera gradually freed himself from the remaining signs of British control in the southern part of Ireland and brought it to complete independence. The north remained in British hands and the strife reawakened, until only a few years ago it ended in a tense peace. In the meantime, the Republic of Ireland has enjoyed its freedom and prosperity. If it had stuck to the approach of "everything or nothing" of Arafat and Abbas, it would have remained under British occupation until now.

Israel learned the lesson of "revealing Arafat's true face" at Camp David, and out of fear of destroying the negotiations, Israel is not portraying Abbas as a devious peace rejectionist - even though his positions are the same as those of his predecessor. This way it is possible to keep on talking, but that is not enough to reach an agreement. For a breakthrough, we have to understand the basic differences between the sides - and try to bridge the gap between Mars and Venus.
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  1.   Is it Hard to comprehend that the Arabs Want All of Israel 07:54  |  Baruch Gold 25/09/08
  2.   What Palestinian Homeland?! 10:36  |  Zev Davis 25/09/08
  3.   The Palestinians simply don`t trust Israel anymore..... 10:48  |  Swiss (Dino) 25/09/08
  4.   Aluf, what a load of bollucks 11:00  |  Palestinian in UK 25/09/08
  5.   Aluf, youdon`t know how we feel! 11:03  |  Bandar Michaels 25/09/08
  6.   #1 11:13  |  Dave 25/09/08
  7.   Aluf, you don`t know how we feel! 11:14  |  Bandar Michaels 25/09/08
  8.   North Ireland is not a good analogy 11:16  |  roberto 25/09/08
  9.   What exactly is full peace? Israel occupied by millions of Arabs? 11:19  |  PETER SM 25/09/08
  10.   Imagine that Baruch ! 11:21  |  Sean 25/09/08
  11.   Michael Collins and Lloyd George 11:37  |  SD 25/09/08
  12.   why occupation is preferable 11:55  |  SD 25/09/08
  13.   so bandar, when barak offered 20% out of 22% 11:56  |  gideon 25/09/08
  14.   If there is not two states then the solution is one state 12:09  |  Petteri 25/09/08
  15.   SEAN Actualy Jews lived there continuously for thousands of yrs 12:21  |  PETER SM 25/09/08
  16.   There is NO occupation in Gaza. Why then 12:44  |  Rachel 25/09/08
  17.   # 1 baruch 12:48  |  Axel 25/09/08
  18.   Where this article goes wrong.... 12:53  |  Johnboy 25/09/08
  19.   What the Israelis prefer to ignore ........ 12:59  |  Arthur 25/09/08
  20.   Read the talkbackers ... 13:15  |  Murray 25/09/08
  21.   swiss dino you do not allow moslems in geneva 13:18  |  swisswatch 25/09/08
  22.   it is not just a matter of retreat from the west bank 13:30  |  judah 25/09/08
  23.   #13 He didn`t offer 20%, Gideon. 13:35  |  Johnboy 25/09/08
  24.   The Palestinian grab list 13:57  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 25/09/08
  25.   johnboy and the new jew hatred 14:08  |  yair 25/09/08
  26.   JOHNBOY Garbage.Just one illustration of your lies on this 14:30  |  PETER SM 25/09/08
  27.   Facts for Peter SM 14:55  |  Sean 25/09/08
  28.   zeev makes a deal 15:16  |  judah 25/09/08
  29.   zeev the dealmaker 15:18  |  judah 25/09/08
  30.   zeev plays poker with israel`s future 15:21  |  judah 25/09/08
  31.   SEAN Facts 1.Balfour decleration(1926) preceeded the Nazis. 15:28  |  PETER SM 25/09/08
  32.   john boy , you have been mislead 15:29  |  gideon 25/09/08
  33.   Bogus comparison to Ireland situation 16:00  |  Kevin Kavanagh 25/09/08
  34.   #26 How to point this out gently to PETER SM? 16:11  |  Johnboy 25/09/08
  35.   #9; Bandar Michaels, What country????? 16:14  |  DOC HOLLIDAY 25/09/08
  36.   #25 yair dives into the last refuge of the zionist scoundrel 16:29  |  Johnboy 25/09/08
  37.   The inconvenient fact 16:39  |  Murray 25/09/08
  38.   #2 Zev Davis 16:52  |  THK 25/09/08
  39.   johnboy and arafat 17:14  |  yair 25/09/08
  40.   Comparing Israel to the British Empire is a joke 17:21  |  Joe 25/09/08
  41.   its not about occupation or everything 17:27  |  maria 25/09/08
  42.   johnboy not far from us in algeria 17:35  |  yair 25/09/08
  43.   You all miss the point 17:46  |  John 25/09/08
  44.   #37 Murray for Milan 18:04  |  THK 25/09/08
  45.   #33 kevin is wrong and the aim was to get the whole of ireland 18:32  |  victor hardman 25/09/08
  46.   Exploring the Irish Analogy 20:05  |  Mark of Lewiston 25/09/08
  47.   No. 40 Joe 20:34  |  Gerald 25/09/08
  48.   Completely Wrong both of you. 20:48  |  Kevin Kavanagh 25/09/08
  49.   #23, Off course Johnboy the continent-grabber mentions Israel 20:53  |  Jake 25/09/08
  50.   48 Kevin Kavanagh - More Agreement than Not 21:34  |  Mark of Lewiston 25/09/08
  51.   Liek a lot of these articles 21:38  |  Dave Duncan 25/09/08
  52.   Whar problem?? 21:48  |  Mikesailor 25/09/08
  53.   IF, the occupied territories legally belonged to Israel 21:54  |  American in NY 25/09/08
  54.   #53 American in NY 23:47  |  Joe 25/09/08
  55.   #32 Lay off the Hasbarah history books, gideon 00:53  |  Johnboy 26/09/08
  56.   #39 Repeating a lie does not make it true, yair 00:58  |  Johnboy 26/09/08
  57.   Oslo was a partial agreement. And Israel used it 01:13  |  Diane M 26/09/08
  58.   A peace treaty with "Palestinians" has as much to offer Israel as 01:50  |  Chaim 26/09/08
  59.   Aluf misleads the public 01:51  |  harry 26/09/08
  60.   AM in NY Attributing motives without evidence.Pal charters are.! 02:00  |  PETER SM 26/09/08
  61.   Bandar Michaels Don`t be such a big baby cry 05:01  |  RW 26/09/08
  62.   AM in NY Olmert publicly said the oppositte of what you claim 05:03  |  PETER SM 26/09/08
  63.   Abbas and Olmert 05:55  |  Arnold Ghitis 26/09/08