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Who is really for Peace in the Middle East?
by Daoud Kuttab
An argument has been raging for some time as to which party in the Middle
East conflict is more interested in peace and quiet. Israel claims that it
wants peace and stability, that it made what it calls a generous offer for
peace and that all they got in return was suicide attacks.
Palestinians insist that they want peace and that the illegal Israeli
occupation and exclusive Jewish settlement activity in Palestinian lands is
the problem. As to the generous offer, they state that returning occupied
lands is not charity but an internationally mandated right and that just
like the US insisted on all of Kuwaiti territory be returned to its owners,
so Palestinians demand that all of the occupied West Bank and Gaza be
returned.
But while this argument has not been settled, no one seems to be able to
find a way to identify who is keeping the pot boiling and more importantly
who is derailing various local and international attempts at reaching a
cessation to the violence.
Even though both sides might not be aware of it, recent events on the ground
have shown a strange unholy alliance between extremist Palestinian groups
and hard line Israeli military and political officials. Whether it is
militant Palestinian Muslim groups or the hawkish Israeli prime minister,
both seem to benefit more from violence than from long periods of quiet.
This phenomena has been seen of and on for some time but in the past three
weeks it has become much clearer to any neutral observer. Whenever the
issue of a negotiated cease fire had been discussed in the past, Israel's
prime minister has insisted that first a period of absolute quiet must
prevail. What Sharon means by quiet is not a unilateral one but rather a one
sided effort. Israel's leaders continuously insist that they want
Palestinians to stop their violent resistance and suicide bombings before
they can go back to the negotiating period.
Six days after the Palestinian Authority unilaterally observed a cease fire,
last December, Israel's assassinated a senior leader of Arafat's Fateh
movement Raed Karmi from Tulkarem thus putting the Palestinian leader in an
impossible position as he tried unsuccessfully to stop his own militants
from taking revenge.
Four hours after the Islamic spiritual leader Sheik Ahmad Yasin declared on
Arab TV stations that the Hamas movement was considering a unilateral
cessation of attacks inside Israel, a one ton bomb was fired from an F-16
fighter on a residential Gaza neighborhood killing a senior Hamas leader as
well as more than a dozen children and women. Again the cycle of violence
was intensified.
This Tuesday, the first day of implementing the Gaza and Bethlehem First
plan Israelis once again sabotaged the deal. The agreement between
Palestinian security officials with the Israeli Defense minister and leader
of the Labor Party Beniyamin Ben Eliazer became worthless when a special
Israeli army unit assassinated a secular Palestinian militant in Ramallah.
What is evident in all these cease fire attempts is that Israelis refuse to
commit upon themselves a cessation of anti Palestinian violence. Israelis
also refuse to stop expropriating Palestinian lands, expanding settlements,
house demolitions, deportations using human shields and assassinations. Many
Israelis have criticized these acts that which the international community
considers crimes of war according to international humanitarian law.
Radical Palestinian groups also have little incentive for a prolonged period
of quiet. As long as they are carrying out anti Israeli attacks their
popularity among frustrated Palestinians continues to rise. If there is
quiet and the beginning of negotiations then they will be in a corner, they
will either be seen as spoilers of a historic peace agreement or they will
have to make political compromises which will make them no different than
mainstream Palestinian groups.
By insisting on Palestinian unilateral quiet, Israelis accomplish both their
military as well as their political objectives. They can continue to have a
free hand in taking revenge on every Palestinian they consider has used
violence against them. If Palestinian respond the Israelis can blame
Palestinians for the continuation of the violence and they declare that they
are free from paying the political price which they know they will have to
pay in any long-term solution. If on the other hand Palestinians take the
beatings and not respond then Israel can declare a victory on Palestinians
thus they can easily dictate the terms on any future political settlement.
In order to break this cycle of violence between Sharon's army and
Palestinian militants, outside help is needed. International mediators
efforts can't begin until there is a genuine enforceable ceasefire that
includes both sides commitment not to attack the other side. The Bush
administration should make this the number one priority and should be ready
to declare to the parties and to the entire world which side is really for
peace and who is interested in keeping the current unacceptable violent
status quo.
Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist from Jerusalem. He is the
director
of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University which owns and
runs
Al Quds Educational Television. In May 2001, Mr. Kuttab received the
International Press Institute's award as one of fifty press freedom
heroes
in the last fifty years.
Source:
by courtesy & © 2002 Daoud Kuttab & Arabic Media Internet Network (AMIN)
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