Journey to nowhere
Here we are again: The season of negotiations is upon us, negotiations that amount to nothing.
By Gideon Levy Tags: Middle East peace Israel newsWell, here we are. A new year begins at midnight, and for the Middle East, 2010 will be a year of negotiations. Peace envoys are warming up at the starting line, document writers are polishing draft agreements for the envoys, advisers are coming up with their own phraseology, pundits are piling up verbiage, photographers are aiming their cameras, and diplomats are packing their bags and sharpening their tongues. George Mitchell will be here soon, Benjamin Netanyahu has already been to Cairo, Mahmoud Abbas is on his way. In the end there will be a summit. In Washington they'll be elated, in Europe they'll be exhilarated, the settlers will fulminate and the leftists will somnambulate. Yet another scene in the theater of the absurd, another act in the endless grotesque burlesque. Here we are again: The season of negotiations is upon us, negotiations that amount to nothing.
Already the archives are bursting at the seams with plans and initiatives, outlines and parameters, all already thick with dust. Never before has there been so dangerous and so protracted a conflict with so many wars and so many peace plans. From the first Rogers Plan of December 1969 to the second and third Rogers plans and up to the present, it's been a horrifyingly dreary tale of sterile diplomacy, a 40-year journey to nowhere.
Everything has already been written and all the plans are amazingly similar, which isn't surprising. If you want peace, just go to one of the drawers and randomly pluck out any of the plans, it really doesn't matter which, and start implementing it. And if you want a "peace process," you're invited to join the coming festivities, including the killer hangover.
One could, for example, pull the original Rogers Plan out of the mothballs. William Rogers himself has been dead for years, but everything is right there in his plan: withdrawal to the 1967 borders, recognition, sovereignty, peace. It was Israel that rejected it. Forty years on, and we are wallowing in the exact same spot. You want to be a little more up-to-date? Take Bill Clinton's plan - everything's there too. So why start off yet again on another campaign of tortuous language? Why do all the Uzi Arads and George Mitchells have to wear themselves out?
Benjamin Netanyahu has already undergone his "historic turnabout," he's reportedly ready to discuss, certainly discuss, the '67 borders, with territory swaps and security arrangements. Even the timetable has already been set - two years, of course it's two years, it's always two years, two years more. At the end, Israel's ultimate triumph will be declared: There's no partner. Again we'll hear that the Palestinian president is "a chicken with no feathers" or that the Palestinian leaders are "a gang of terrorists," and again we'll hear that there's no one to talk to.
There is no Palestinian partner, because there is no Israeli partner who is ready to take action. The day that Israel starts acting, together with the Palestinians, the partner will be there. Even Nelson Mandela wasn't the Mandela we know until he was freed from prison and South Africa was placed in his hands. He too refused to give up armed resistance for decades, but when he was given a true opportunity, he followed a path of peace. The key was in the hands of F.W. de Clerk, not those of Mandela. Israel, too, has that key. Now that it is no longer possible to halt everything because of terrorism, since there is almost none, Israel has lost one of its best weapons. When there is terrorism, one cannot act, and when there is no terrorism, there's no reason to act. But don't worry, it will be back, if nothing happens. The experience of the disengagement won't help either, because the continued imprisonment of the Gazans means that nothing has changed in their lives.
The last person to touch the dream was Ehud Olmert. Countless "excellent" meetings with Abbas, photo ops and bold speeches in abundance. Almost courage, nearly accord, a "shelf agreement" any minute now. Meanwhile, at the edge of the shelf are two lost wars and more settlement construction. All the fine words were rendered worthless by the action on the ground. Because this is the supreme test: It doesn't matter what the Israelis say, it matters what they do.
The time for words is over. Stop negotiating, start doing. Lifting the blockade on Gaza and declaring a perpetual freeze on building in the settlements would do more than a thousand formulations. Someone who wants two states doesn't build even one more balcony. This is the litmus test of Israel's true intentions. Without taking these steps, everything else is a waste of time, the time of the negotiators and of all of us. Does Netanyahu mean to take any of these steps? That is very doubtful, troublingly so.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
The next step is to shut it down like Guantanamo Bay People will not accept its violence in the Middle East anymore and what it doing to the Palestinian people.(That will be its downfall). Ben
Well it depends on israel's agenda seeing as she seriously wants to attack Iran i really don't see any peace. There is no peace without justice. This problem is nothing new, it is going for more than four decades now.I see more destruction and violence...I hope the Palestinians will get more international support.
If Israel were to impose a true, comprehensive 1-year halt to settlement construction, the balls of no-terrorism and no-incitement would have been hit squarely into the Palestinians' court, all at a cost of zero to Israel. What could be easier than not doing something? But Israel want these Palestinian actions before it does the nothing it needs to do. Similarly, Palestinians could accept Israel as a neighbor and call a meaningful halt to rocket attacks, etc. But Palestinians want Israel to halt all construction first, and their two factions hate each other. I agree. Nothing will happen. There is no will by either party to make something happen. Sooner or later Israel will get the violence it needs to declare that peace is impossible - Lieberman is ahead of the script - and that will be that.
Here is one American proposing to hold democrats and Obamas' feet to the fire and he has gotten a lot of people on board as people are fed up of the last 8yrs of Bush and the same party line. They voted for change and they mean to get it. Dutch http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-cohen/new-years-resolution-dont_b_404760.html
And all the more reason to take this conflict out of israeli and American hands as many people are now advocating, esp. in the US today. Thanks for writing this you always seem to hit the nail on the head.( You have lots of fans in the US.) Dutch
Israel is a derailed train going downhill at full speed. All that the people on board can do is wait for the inevitable end.
Lets lift Gaza blockade.Fine. Lets give up E jurusalem. Fine. Let's return to 67 borders. Not enough? Of course, settlers are to be removed. Lets do it. Now israel & PA can sign peace agreement. Not too soon. PA does not agree to be "demilitarised". Lets them to be militarised. Now it is time to sign . Not exactly. Refugies must return to Israel. If not there is no peace. Let's do it. For PA never promised peace unless all these requiremets met. I do agree with Mr.Levy: stop talking. Do it. He is a clever man. What would he be writing when all PA/Arabs requirements met? I believe about Golden Age of Spanish Arab/Jews friendship. Naturally the writings would be published. All would be interested in reading them. Even more than now.
"If only Gideon and other haters stopped blaming the victim (Israel) .." It's Israel breaking International Law, Israel dissing the UN Charter, Israel dissing it's own Declaration of Sovereignty, Israel ignoring UNSC resolutions, Israel taking other folk's lands.
Eisenhower seems to me was a very bright guy and not just a general. He realised after the war that US needed to be careful in managing its military-idustrial complex lest it should subvert the nation. These rent takers can subvert the entire nation. That is an especial concern for the us in these days. Israel has same problem in spades. Peace = less spent on defence. Better for society but worse for the military machine.
# 1 well said, with some truth to some of your comments, however to not fool yourself or others, Israel is heading on the road/coarse that G-D has sent them on. They are just wear they are sopposed to be. Chaim is insightfull with some of his comments, ahmet your not quit won over yet, so let me try. Israel was the name given to Jacob by G-D not a man, way before mohammid's Baba was on the sene sooooo the division between Isac and Ishmael's offspring is the real root of the problem, semetic people are stuborn, I know I'm semetic decent however I approach life from a careful approach since my eyes were openened recently. The bedouin/arabs who reside in Israel not palastine are afforded the same luxeries as israeli's, however their is this narsasistic, selfentitlment to not respect non-moslem's or their holdiday's most importantly the high holy days. Please followers of Allah would like for non-moslem's to disrespect your holiday's ??? Be real think of Allah !!! Before you act !!!
wish a happy new year to all israeli people!!! and also to all the now suffering palestinian people! i think the jews are a great people, and they can do what is just to do...
with the chaim ben kahan's on the loose there cannnot be peace. israel created a monster for a couple of cheap votes from settlers by politicians. any peace deal will result in a civil war. the chaim ben kahans have infiltrated the army, security services and the entire civil service. bibi and barak know this and are playing day by day for another day in power and to hell with the future of israel. only a major catastrophe will alert israelis to what is going on. i used to think that an american president would make the difference but i was wrong. what would you do if you were bibi, offend an american president or unleash a civil war amonst jews?? cry the beloved country.
Views such as " There is no palestine" are not helpful either.
The enemies of Israel do not want peace with Israel and not at any price and no amount of appeasement short of our total surrender and disarmanent and subsequent mass murder will please Hamas, Fatah, Hizbollah and others who are sworn enemies of Israel. If only Gideon and other haters stopped blaming the victim (Israel) and started finding solutions instead of supporting terrorism, war, violence against Israel and the innocent people who live here.
Well said Colin. Israel needs war in order to stay unified and give it excuses to be on the defensive and produce WMD's and ask for US financial aid.If there was peace with Syria,Lebanon and Iran, Iraq,Saudi and rest of the Arab states, then it would have absolutuely no right to interfere in their policies. It would have no right to oppose their production and sale of military goods and even acquirement of nuclear technology. it would not be able to carry out air raids if they had such peace agreements.So Israel actually wants to be at conflict with its neighbours.
Borneo welcomes you with open arms
The assumptions are that Israel wants peace and that there is pressure on her to make peace. First off, I don't think that, deep down, Israel wants peace. She has always existed in war, war defines her, and war is what gives her national cohesion. We find the unfamiliar deeply frightening. Viscerally, Israel must feel about peace about the same way I would feel about emigrating to Borneo. Secondly, most of Israel's supporters support her precisely because she is at war, and she gets money because she is at war. A peaceful Israel would be BORING. No one would pay attention, and no one would pay money to watch. So Israel? Want peace? Yeah -- like Madonna wants to retire into obscurity.