Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., November 27, 2007 Kislev 17, 5768 | | Israel Time: 07:57 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Rosner's Domain
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Advertising
Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
del.icio.us
Digg It!  new
Last update - 12:43 23/11/2007
Strengthening them again
By Natan Sharansky
Tags: Palestinians, peace process 

One of the high points at which the drama could have turned into a farce within seconds occurred nine years ago at the Wye Plantation summit. After exhausting and debilitating efforts, we received from Yasser Arafat a promise (even if half-hearted and unwilling) to delete from the Palestinian Charter the sections calling for the destruction of Israel.

Upon leaving the conference room, we saw one of the closest advisers of President Bill Clinton and proudly told him about our achievement.

"Are you out of your minds?" he shouted. "He's going to be killed because of that. He is too weak for dramatic steps like that. First he has to be strengthened!"
Advertisement
I recalled this tragicomic story a few days ago as I was talking with a player from the international elements engaged in building up the destroyed Palestinian economy. When I asked him why they weren't making aid to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) contingent on stopping the anti-Israeli incitement on the official television channel and in the Palestinian education system, he replied, "Abu Mazen is so weak, and this is not a popular step. First of all, it is necessary to strengthen him and afterward it will be possible to demand something of him."

I have never understood this strange reasoning: First strengthen the weak leader, by giving legitimization to anti-Israeli actions that he allows (or encourages, and sometimes even operates) and then, once the anti-Israeli positions have made him popular, expect that he will suddenly change his spots and lead his people determinedly toward the desired peace.

This distorted approach has become a kind of sacred cow. "We must strengthen Abu Mazen," say Israel's leaders as a kind of mantra. It is of no importance that along the way they are educating another generation of Palestinians to hatred, violence and the aspiration to destroy Israel. It is of no importance that the way to the strengthening is the diametric opposite of peace and dialogue. The main thing is that we are strengthening Abu Mazen.

The old argument of President Shimon Peres and Meretz MK Yossi Beilin and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on "with whom to make peace, a strong leader or a weak leader" is no longer relevant. A look back over the years since the Oslo Accords shows clearly that the direction in which Palestinian society has marched is not the direction of peace. It was all in all just a hudna (truce) before another intifada. And when the society is becoming more extreme, what difference is it to us if the leader is strong or weak?

It is true that to carry out courageous reforms and educate the people to peace, a strong and bold leader is needed. Leaders like that, who understand the need for education toward peace and reforms, do exist - but not in the Muqata in Ramallah. These are people who are not afraid to challenge the tyranny of the weak leader and who believe in building a civil society as a necessary foundation for any progress on the road to peace.

As chairman of the Institute for Strategic Studies, I meet them quite frequently. It is true that they are weak, but for one reason only: We ourselves are weakening them by giving unreserved support to "moderate" tyrants. The justification that support for these troublemakers weakens the only element that is capable of stopping Hamas doesn't hold water: It is precisely the strengthening of an antidemocratic regime and the absence of an alternative that are pushing the public into the arms of fundamentalists, into the arms of Hamas. Annapolis is doomed to failure not because we or the Palestinians have not made enough concessions - it is doomed to failure because it is built on distorted reasoning to the effect that it is possible to move ahead and make a deal with some leader and totally ignore what is really happening in Palestinian society. In this, to our regret, Annapolis has become another tragifarcical Middle Eastern scene.

The writer is head of the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at the Shalem Center.
Bookmark to del.icio.us
The IDF's dilemna
To what extent should measures in the West Bank and Gaza be rolled back in the coming days?
Not one inch
Hamas says they will reject any deals made by Abbas in Annapolis.
  1.   This guy 13:11  |  JJ 23/11/07
  2.   The P.A. charter has still not been changed 13:18  |  Zev 23/11/07
  3.   If hypocrisy in this world would have a last name...... 13:24  |  Swiss (Dino) 23/11/07
  4.   Abbas=USA/israel puppet 13:58  |  unveil the truth 23/11/07
  5.   Abbas=USA/israel puppet 13:58  |  unveil the truth 23/11/07
  6.   very tactical-how about some strategy 14:16  |  sameoldagain 23/11/07
  7.   Simply right 14:31  |  Shalom Freedman 23/11/07
  8.   Distorted criticism 14:32  |  Michael 23/11/07
  9.   # 5 unveil the truth 15:43  |  tbora 23/11/07
  10.   NATAN, O, NATAN MY MAN 16:06  |  indrajaya 23/11/07
  11.   Blaming the victims? 16:23  |  new_york_loner 23/11/07
  12.   Wye Annapolis 16:30  |  D.R. Zukerman 23/11/07
  13.   He Belongs Back in the Gulag! 16:45  |  Matthew 23/11/07
  14.   The Swiss - the true hypocrites of the world 16:48  |  Gee 23/11/07
  15.   Freedom-fighter..... 17:24  |  Esther 23/11/07
  16.   Mathew and memory 17:37  |  Laura 23/11/07
  17.   Another Bronxite. 17:45  |  D.R. Zukerman 23/11/07
  18.   # 14 Gee (the anti-Swissite) 17:56  |  Swiss (Dino) 23/11/07
  19.   Sharansky looking for a new excuse 18:04  |  Tosefta 23/11/07
  20.   #11 blame the victim, Loner in NY 18:08  |  American tax payer 23/11/07
  21.   To Laura 18:13  |  Matthew 23/11/07
  22.   ARe Sharansky and Bibi the Only Smart Ones Left in Israel ? 18:14  |  Tod Zuckerman 23/11/07
  23.   Zukerman Unbound 18:17  |  Matthew 23/11/07
  24.   Mathew in the Bronx 18:18  |  MacCall 23/11/07
  25.   Laura and Mathew 18:23  |  Catherine 23/11/07
  26.   d.r zuckerman you`re a clever man 19:22  |  enough 23/11/07
  27.   Road Map is part and parcel anti-Zionist ,anti-Semitic. 19:26  |  Joseph E . 23/11/07
  28.   Israel needs stronger partners 19:29  |  Fritz Teich 23/11/07
  29.   #8 19:29  |  B 23/11/07
  30.   Natan`s Education Continues 19:31  |  Mentat 23/11/07
  31.   Sharansky Doesn`t Get It 19:34  |  Mark of Lewiston 23/11/07
  32.   Someone we don`t hear from enough 19:35  |  B 23/11/07
  33.   this man is confused 20:24  |  tadchase 23/11/07
  34.   What makes Sharansky such a mega-hypocrite....??? 21:34  |  Swiss (Dino) 23/11/07
  35.   Swiss Dumbo 22:22  |  Gee 23/11/07
  36.   Wow the throw a man in the gulag for speaking his mind 22:43  |  Gee 23/11/07
  37.   #20 american tax payer 23:06  |  dan 23/11/07
  38.   Comrade Sharanski-KGB agent 23:19  |  durak 23/11/07
  39.   An Israeli Leader With Ethics and Conscience 23:22  |  Yoram 23/11/07
  40.   again and again... 23:23  |  Shmuelshachor 23/11/07
  41.   #3 Good one, Swiss (Dino) 23:23  |  Ben Alofs 23/11/07
  42.   # 35 from Gee to Swiss Dino 02:28  |  Nostupid 24/11/07
  43.   #36 Gee 02:37  |  Richard 24/11/07
  44.   Effective censorship 03:15  |  Mark Lincoln 24/11/07
  45.   So much for reasoning 03:48  |  D.R. Zukerman 24/11/07
  46.   propaganda trap 03:50  |  ron 24/11/07
  47.   Strengthening the PA 04:13  |  Gary 24/11/07
  48.   An example of self-delusion (Mark Lincoln #44) 04:52  |  Tosefta 24/11/07
  49.   now that`s leadership for you 05:29  |  ian lemming 24/11/07
  50.   How To Clean a Bloody Knife 06:35  |  Joseph E . post 1 24/11/07
  51.   How To Clean a Bloody Knife 06:37  |  Joseph E . post 2 24/11/07
  52.   How To Clean a Bloody Knife 06:38  |  Joseph E . Post 3 24/11/07
  53.   How To Clean a Bloody Knife 06:40  |  Joseph E . Post 4 24/11/07
  54.   ummm...yeah but natan; have you asked yourself... 07:26  |  eric 24/11/07
  55.   #54eric fails at history again and again 08:16  |  victor hardman 24/11/07
  56.   #`s 50-53 to joseph e 08:43  |  eric 24/11/07
  57.   # 41 Ben Alofs 09:40  |  Swiss (Dino) 24/11/07
  58.   # 35 Gee, one last (desperate) try....... 09:51  |  Swiss (Dino) 24/11/07
  59.   # 55 to victor in IRELAND 09:51  |  eric 24/11/07
  60.   #59eric confirms his views are pure fantasy 11:03  |  victor hardman 24/11/07
  61.   Joseph E. 11:43  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 24/11/07
  62.   Re Laura and memory #16 11:46  |  Esther 24/11/07
  63.   #56, eric 11:49  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 24/11/07
  64.   victor hardman`s specifics 11:56  |  enlighten us 24/11/07
  65.   # 61 Cipora Julianna Kohn Wow !!!!!!! 12:19  |  Swiss (Dino) 24/11/07
  66.   #65, Dino 12:51  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 24/11/07
  67.   For Joseph et Cipora 12:54  |  Esther 24/11/07
  68.   Who/what is this Sharansky?! 13:09  |  Esther 24/11/07
  69.   esther-i`ll answer that 14:16  |  an opportunist of 24/11/07
  70.   # 37, dan 14:19  |  Callahan 24/11/07
  71.   Sharansky would be a good p.m. 14:49  |  Hilda 24/11/07
  72.   #64 dear chevra in 60 years none of the silly ideas have worked 15:35  |  victor hardman 24/11/07
  73.   # 71, Hilda 15:38  |  Bruce 24/11/07
  74.   Natan 15:38  |  Yosemite 24/11/07
  75.   # 74, Yosemite 16:17  |  Bill 24/11/07
  76.   If Israel Waits for Thomas Jefferson to Appear 17:00  |  Jane 24/11/07
  77.   Hilda, Hilda, Hilda....... 17:14  |  Wiktor 24/11/07
  78.   sounds like`all the kings men` movie 17:22  |  ROB OF MELBOURNE AUS 24/11/07
  79.   Jane, How ironic you sound... 18:37  |  Dutch 24/11/07
  80.   Batan Sharansky, Ever heard of HUmpty Dumpty? 19:18  |  dutch 24/11/07
  81.   yo Dino 19:32  |  tadchase