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Last update - 10:31 08/04/2007
Israel doesn't want peace
By Gideon Levy

The moment of truth has arrived, and it has to be said: Israel does not want peace. The arsenal of excuses has run out, and the chorus of Israeli rejection already rings hollow. Until recently, it was still possible to accept the Israeli refrain that "there is no partner" for peace and that "the time isn't right" to deal with our enemies. Today, the new reality before our eyes leaves no room for doubt and the tired refrain that "Israel supports peace" has been left shattered.

It's hard to determine when the breaking point occurred. Was it the absolute dismissal of the Saudi initiative? The refusal to acknowledge the Syrian initiative? Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's annual Passover interviews? The revulsion at the statements made by Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, in Damascus, alleging that Israel was ready to renew peace talks with Syria?

Who would have believed it? A high-ranking U.S. official says Israel wants peace talks to resume and instantly her president "severely" denies the veracity of her words. Is Israel even hearing these voices? Are we digesting the significance of these voices for peace? Seven million apathetic Israeli citizens prove that we are not.
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Entire generations grew up here weaned on self-deception and doubt about the likelihood of achieving peace with our neighbors. In our younger days, David Ben-Gurion told us that if he were only able to meet with Arab leaders, he would have brought us peace in his time. Israel has demanded direct negotiations as a matter of principle and Israelis have derived great pride from the fact that their daily focus on "peace" has concealed their state's lofty ambitions. We were told that there was no partner for peace and that the ultimate ambition of the Arabs is to bring about our destruction. We burned the portraits of "the Egyptian tyrant" at our bonfires on Lag Ba'omer, and were convinced that all blame for the lack of peace lied with our enemies.

After that came the occupation, followed by terror, Yassir Arafat, the failed second Camp David Summit and the rise of Hamas to power, and we were sure, always sure, that it was all their fault. In our wildest dreams, we wouldn't have believed that the day would come when the entire Arab world would extend its hand in peace and Israel would brush away the gesture. It would have been even crazier to imagine that this Israeli refusal would have been blamed on not wanting to enrage domestic public opinion.

The world has been turned upside down and it is Israel that stands at the forefront of refusal. The policy of refusal of a select few, a vanguard of the extreme, has now become the official policy of Jerusalem. In his Passover interviews, Olmert will tell us that, "The Palestinians stand at the crossroads of a historic decision," but people stopped taking him seriously a long time ago. The historic decision is ours, and we are fleeing from this crossroads and from these initiatives as if from death itself.

Terror, used as the ultimate excuse for Israeli refusal, only helps Olmert keep reciting, ad nauseum, "If they [the Palestinians] don't change, don't fight terror and don't adhere to any of their obligations, then they will never extract themselves from their unending chaos." As though the Palestinians haven't taken measures against terrorism, as though Israel is the one to determine what their obligations are, as though Israel isn't to blame for the unending chaos Palestinians suffer under the occupation.

Israel makes a point of setting prerequisites and believes it has an exclusive right to do so. But, time and time again, Israel avoids the most basic prerequisite for any just peace - an end to the occupation. Of all the questions asked during his Passover interviews, no one bothered to ask Olmert why he didn't react with excitement to the recent Arab initiatives, without preconditions? The answer: real estate. The real estate of the settlements.

It's not only Olmert who is dragging his feet. A leading figure in the Labor party said last week that "it will take five to 10 years to recover from the trauma." Peace is now no more than a threatening wound, with no one still talking about the massive social benefits it would bring in development, security, freedom of movement in the region and by establishing a more just society.

Like a little Switzerland, we are focusing more these days on the dollar exchange rate and on the allegations of embezzlement leveled against the Finance Ministry than on the fateful opportunities fading away before our very eyes.

Not every day and not even in every generation do we encounter an opportunity like this. Although it's not for sure if the initiatives are completely solid and believable, or if they are based on trickery, no one has stepped up to challenge or acknowledge them. When Olmert is an elderly grandfather, what will he tell his grandchildren? That he turned over every stone in the name of peace? That there was no other choice? What will his grandchildren say?
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  1.   Absurd Accusation 10:53  |  TM (Jewlicious.com) 08/04/07
  2.   Levi, an extraordinary person and Haaretz an exceptional News Pap 10:55  |  Bandar Michaels 08/04/07
  3.   Exactly! End the occupation 11:02  |  tony fisher 08/04/07
  4.   Peace talks 11:11  |  Axel 08/04/07
  5.   "ad nauseum" 11:43  |  christoph 08/04/07
  6.   Middle East = Land of the fools 11:53  |  Swiss (Dino) 08/04/07
  7.   THE MOST OVERWORKED AND LEAST UNDERSTOOD WORD 12:16  |  paul harris 08/04/07
  8.   Israel Doesn`t Want Peace 12:20  |  Rochel Sylvetsky 08/04/07
  9.   The fanatical Talmudic settlers will call Levy 12:28  |  Christian evangelist 08/04/07
  10.   G.L. is confused;Israel`s religion&actions R 4 peace 12:35  |  sam 08/04/07
  11.   No peace please, we`re Israelis 12:37  |  JW 08/04/07
  12.   you are right gideon. we do not want peace of the grave, how aus 12:40  |  ralph 08/04/07
  13.   levy is either a cynic or a moron 12:43  |  brian 08/04/07
  14.   an end to the occupation 12:51  |  David Hawkins 08/04/07
  15.   Victims of your own `success` 13:04  |  Rowan Berkeley 08/04/07
  16.   Gideon Levy hates Israel 13:08  |  Shalom Freedman 08/04/07
  17.   Gideon the clown Levy doesn`t want peace 13:09  |  Spoon 08/04/07
  18.   If Ben Gurion were here today, Gideon Levy 13:12  |  Tzfonit 08/04/07
  19.   gideon levy.....They say *Home is where the heart is* 13:15  |  Ari ben Yisrael 08/04/07
  20.   #14 DIRECT THENM TO ARAB PALESTINE [JORDAN [] DAVID 13:16  |  paul harris 08/04/07
  21.   #14 David Hawkins in BERLIN LOL 13:18  |  Ari ben Yisrael 08/04/07
  22.   #6 DINO STILL NEEDS JERRY DESPERATELY 13:19  |  paul harris 08/04/07
  23.   #4 ITS SPRING AND AXEL MAKES A BREAKTHROUGH !! 13:22  |  paul harris 08/04/07
  24.   Israel Does not want "Piece" 13:28  |  MaxR 08/04/07
  25.   Gideon Levy lies again 13:32  |  Ken Jurist 08/04/07
  26.   Gideon Levy doesn`t want Israel... to exist 13:48  |  MG 08/04/07
  27.   Please listen to Gideon! 13:49  |  Texas Ranger 08/04/07
  28.   Arab peace is Jewish destruction!!!!! 13:51  |  Ben Uziel 08/04/07
  29.   Absolute nonsense 13:54  |  ScotGuy 08/04/07
  30.   Levy-Your PREDICTABLE,REPETITIVE,BIASED opinion ain`t worth 2cent 13:54  |  Ben 08/04/07
  31.   Levi is a TERROR APOLOGIST with no sense of justice!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 14:00  |  James 08/04/07
  32.   # 8 14:01  |  christa 08/04/07
  33.   Levy 14:03  |  Charles 08/04/07
  34.   Specialist in stupid Categorization 14:05  |  Shoes 08/04/07
  35.   Gideon Levy and Switzerland 14:05  |  christa 08/04/07
  36.   some context: Ha`aretz=Independent, Levy=Fisk 14:06  |  Israeli 08/04/07
  37.   COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT BETTER 14:07  |  mildred 08/04/07
  38.   Saudi "peace" terminology, de-Orwellized 14:20  |  MG 08/04/07
  39.   What has being long suspected in the West 14:36  |  Chris Linthwaite 08/04/07
  40.   Does not want peace,who said so? 14:43  |  David Nigel Braham 08/04/07
  41.   Gideon, have you read Hamas` charter? 14:53  |  Jake 08/04/07
  42.   Gideon Levy 14:57  |  Maureen S 08/04/07
  43.   Levy`s Articles Grow More Pitiful 14:57  |  Yoram 08/04/07
  44.   Gideon, Pappe left. When will you follow him? 14:58  |  Danny 08/04/07
  45.   Peace with survival 14:58  |  Warren 08/04/07
  46.   Israel doesn`t want peace 15:13  |  Mitch Cohen 08/04/07
  47.   No. 8 15:14  |  tony fisher 08/04/07
  48.   #37 Mildew........But you said nowt!! 15:16  |  Ari ben Yisrael 08/04/07
  49.   #41 Jake, levy probably helped draw it up!! 15:20  |  Ari ben Yisrael 08/04/07
  50.   Maybe Olmert Doesn`t Want Peace but Israel Does 15:23  |  Jane 08/04/07
  51.   tzfonit-delusional #18 15:25  |  Bracha kahba 08/04/07
  52.   #15 Astute observation, Rowan Berkeley 15:29  |  Ben Alofs 08/04/07
  53.   To Gideon Levy, with love 15:29  |  Adina 08/04/07
  54.   # 22 paul harris 15:31  |  Swiss (Dino) 08/04/07
  55.   david hawkins 15:32  |  GABE1 08/04/07
  56.   # 35 christa 15:40  |  Swiss (Dino) 08/04/07
  57.   Gideon Levy 15:42  |  Michael 08/04/07
  58.   MR LEVY WANTS PEACE... 15:43  |  Vladimir 08/04/07
  59.   Gideon Levy is waking up 15:45  |  Ah 08/04/07
  60.   to Haaretz re Rowan Berkeley 15:48  |  bev 08/04/07
  61.   Last chance for a two state solution! 15:48  |  Ben Alofs 08/04/07
  62.   I genuinly believe that most Israelis want peace, BUT...... 15:52  |  Swiss (Dino) 08/04/07
  63.   So, what is new? 15:56  |  Michael N 08/04/07
  64.   Do you really believe in what you write Mr Levy ? 16:03  |  Asher J 08/04/07
  65.   were yoy lving in Mars-Mr.Gideon 16:05  |  Issy Hass 08/04/07
  66.   Israel does not want peace 16:07  |  Mary 08/04/07
  67.   How could Israel want peace? 16:07  |  Marsha Falk 08/04/07
  68.   #44 Men reject their prophets... 16:07  |  Ben Alofs 08/04/07
  69.   # 30 re Levy 16:12  |  Avrohom Yerushalmi 08/04/07
  70.   Texas Ranger (Post No. 27) 16:14  |  Johnny Weintraub 08/04/07
  71.   do you mean it Levy ? are you honest ? 16:15  |  Marrianna K 08/04/07