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From the bottom up By Shlomo Avineri Tags: george mitchell, palestinians  Former senator George Mitchell does not need much advice; he's an experienced statesman whose greatest achievement is the agreement between the Protestant majority and Catholic minority in Northern Ireland. Nevertheless, the U.S. president's special envoy to the Middle East would be well-advised to pay closer attention to certain distinguishing features of the local conflict. The Irish conflict was basically a religious one, fought between two communities speaking the same language and sharing a common history. Here we have a struggle between two national movements with some religious aspects. While no one in Northern Ireland casts doubt over Britain's right to exist, many on the Palestinian side question the legitimacy of the Jewish state, and some Israelis doubt the right of the Palestinian nationality to exist. Despite this, some lessons can be learned from Northern Ireland. There, the decommissioning of militias' weapons was a precondition to elections. The Palestinian Authority's elections failed in part because the movements running in themwere essentially armed militias. To end the Palestinian civil war, and to ensure democracy, there must be no compromise: Decommissioning all militias should be a precondition for elections. Advertisement Mitchell, meanwhile, faces the challenge of achieving an effective truce between Israel and Hamas, rebuilding the Gaza Strip and opening the crossings. His mission is liable to disintegrate; instead of dealing with the peace process, he might be sucked into resolving local crises. It will be important to think creatively. Even those who supported the Oslo Accords cannot deny that the process failed for reasons beyond the obstacles put up by both parties. Oslo was an attempt to build the institutions of a Palestinian nation state from the top down; this fell through because Palestinian society did not produce the instruments for building a structure for the state. In the last two years, the Quartet's Middle East envoy Tony Blair and U.S. Security Coordinator Keith Dayton have made some successful attempts to build Palestinian institutions from the bottom up. This has included building up municipal and regional institutions, strengthening infrastructure and creating functioning security apparatuses. Their efforts have achieved impressive results in Jenin, Bethlehem and even Hebron. These actions are not at all similar to Benjamin Netanyahu's "economic peace," intended to serve as an alternative to a Palestinian state. On the contrary, they are the only successful attempts so far to create infrastructure for a state. True, this process is gradual and bound to take time, but the other process - the top-down one - failed, and it was time to admit it. One last comment, on the Syrian front. An obstacle here is the gap between the Israeli position, focusing on the borders between Syria and Mandatory Palestine, and the Syrian position, focusing on the borders of June 4, 1967. Mitchell should look into a sensitive issue at his next meeting with the Syrians: Does their position stem from merely trying to maintain their occupation of land in 1948, or is it something deeper - a nonrecognition of the Middle East's borders, claiming they were set by Western imperialism after World War I? This is not merely a theoretical question, because it can help explain Syria's approach to Lebanon and other regional issues. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Hebrew harmony Watch American Idol star Adam Lambert singing in Hebrew Top recipes exposed Try the cheap way to eat in some of Tel Aviv's top restaurants   1.   The Northern Ireland Conflict 06:23  |  Thomas Mitchell, PhD 16/04/09   2.   Up and Down 11:00  |  Samuel C. 16/04/09   3.   The Northern Ireland conflict 16:14  |  Louis M. 16/04/09   4.   Catholics = Irish, Protestants = English 16:51  |  Blarney 16/04/09   5.   Poor Journalism 17:01  |  Mark 16/04/09   6.   IRA not the only one making concession 18:14  |  AT 16/04/09   7.   Similarities and Differences 20:16  |  John 16/04/09   8.   They won`t want to wait 21:48  |  Alan Rotnemer 16/04/09   9.   Syria border is listed in the Bible+US stayed in Japan for 20 yrs 23:47  |  sam 16/04/09   10.   Sam stick to something you lnow. Whatever that might be. 03:03  |  American in NY 17/04/09   11.   Ireland analogy 05:20  |  Albert Samtu 18/04/09   12.   The crux of the matter, Mr. Samtu (#11) 07:28  |  Sanders 18/04/09   13.   Protestant Men and a Two Catholics. 14:09  |  sealadaigh 18/04/09   14.   Catholic v. Protestant. 14:20  |  sealadaigh 18/04/09

Read & React Netanyahu demands Palestinians recognize 'Jewish state' Responses: 342 Obama wants Israel to hold parallel talks with Palestinians and Syria Responses: 157 'Israel could have made peace with Hamas under Yassin' Responses: 91 Yossi Melman: I would advise Netanyahu to attack Iran Responses: 120 Hamas: We will never recognize the enemy in any way Responses: 112 More Headlines 05:32 U.S.: Palestinians need not recognize Israel as Jewish state before talks 05:33 What would be the timetable for Israel strike on Iran? 00:27 U.S. to boycott Durban II anti-racism meet 05:35 IDF: Protester's death likely due to unauthorized fire 05:37 Gaza, remember? 21:36 Natan Sharansky named Netanyahu's pick for Jewish Agency head 22:31 WATCH: Daily news round-up from Israel 06:20 Lieberman: Israel will attend Moscow peace parley 21:09 Egypt state daily: Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah tried to overthrow Mubarak 05:27 Is Obama getting friendly with Venezuela's Chavez? 06:54 Scholar: Percentage of Jews in the world in decline since Holocaust 06:21 U.S. pressuring Israel not to evict Arabs in East Jerusalem neighborhood 06:16 New college will turn out 'Zionist' graduates Previous Editions Select Day 17 apr 16 apr 15 apr 14 apr 13 apr 12 apr 10 apr 09 apr 08 apr 07 apr 06 apr 05 apr

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