Counterbalanced Spoilers
Trying to begin to re-start a reluctant, but imperative peace process is always difficult between adversaries, but when the process is one that has pitted Israelis against Palestinians for generations, to the extent that a large proportion of both the Palestinian population and Israeli citizens have known nothing but bitter disputation and warfare between them, with positions hardened against compromise, that's a formula for an arduous and frustrating process.Despite which, polls appear to indicate that each of these solitudes desperately wants to achieve peace between themselves, each society requiring that most basic of human needs to be fulfilled; safety and security, to enable them to to live normal lives, achieve normal aspirations, look with confidence to a secure future for their children through the eventual process of agreeing to live side by side without enmity, in a situation approaching amity.
Each society has the potential to assist the other, to advance their individual and dual interests in that fractious geography. The Israelis are, and likely always will be, viewed with suspicion, distrust and more than a mere veneer of dislike by their Muslim neighbours; they will always represent the 'interlopers'. The Palestinians have historically been held aside from the larger Arab representation, viewed with dislike and distaste, for whatever reasons, by their brethren.
The popularity that Hamas has achieved for itself among the majority of residents of Gaza, and a good portion of Palestinians in the West Bank speaks volumes of the abysmal failure of the PLO/Fatah faction to live up to their promises to provide responsible leadership to their Palestinian dependents. Hamas is now installed ascendant in Gaza, with Fatah claiming full leadership of the West Bank, a tenuous, fragile and very temporary arrangement, fractionating the Palestinians.
Israel, prodded by the West, realizes this situation as a window of opportunity, to support the more 'moderate' Fatah, against the Islamist Hamas. The question is how legitimate and factual is the claim by Fatah that they now solely represent the best interests of all Palestinians, given their enduring lack of popularity among a populace inured by practical experience to the resurgent promises of Fatah?
Israel sees little other choice but to begin to bargain in good faith with Fatah, to make practical overtures, to assist them in arming themselves, to indicate flexibility in bargaining. Nothing particularly new in any of this; rather a repeat of past attempts at conciliation and rapprochement. But the Islamic Resistance Movement makes no bones about its rabid opposition to any form of compromise with Israel.
Given their popularity with a greater number of Palestinians than that which Fatah can claim, and the fact that a very large percentage of Palestinians, while wishing for peace as an ideal, an anodyne to their current status, still support violence against Israelis to achieve Hamas's aim of destroying the Jewish State, this is one huge clunker set to derail any Hamas-absent deals Israel can approach with Fatah.
And given that one of the major demands of the Palestinians, of Fatah and Hamas, of the international community, and indeed of many Israelis themselves, that the West Bank be cleared of Israeli settlements, there's yet another clunker on the way to achieving clear passage ahead. Add to that the fact that an insufficient number of Israelis are committed to the clearing out of Jewish settlers from the biblical Judea and Samaria.
The settlers of the West Bank, more fiercely determined than those who were brought out of Gaza in the initial unilateral withdrawal, represent in their own way a counterweight to the Islamic fundamentalists represented by Hamas. The settlers are prepared to give up their lives in their claim of legitimacy to Judea and Samaria. Hamas is more than prepared to assist them in giving up their lives for their ideals and love of their land.
The fact is Israelis have not yet and may never fully reconcile themselves to the withdrawal of settlers from Gaza; a mere 18% support is evinced for a similar withdrawal from the West Bank. Half the population of Israel now feels that the Gaza withdrawal represented a worsening of Israel's security - and it would appear that the disintegration of law and order that followed the pull-out, along with increased attacks across the border, bear them out.
The excruciating pain of dealing with the insecurities on both sides, of gradually achieving some balance in the demands and expectations, the urgent need for flexibility and compromise will continue to exact a toll on both sides' patience and willingness to forge ahead to achieve the ultimate goal.
Labels: Justice, Political Realities
posted by Pieface @ Monday, July 30, 2007
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