Oh, Those Foxy Manoeuvres!
Talk about peace and negotiations and good will and hope for the future is all very well. Is there integrity and honesty in these negotiations, or is there Machiavellian machinations uppermost in thought and practise, to gain whatever profit is possible, with an end purpose of prevailing whatever the cost in fairness and practicality?Israel is still awaiting the official recognition of itself, its existence as a legally constituted entity, a nation among nations in the Middle East geography. A truly absurd situation whereby a nation whose birth was sanctioned by the reigning world body representing all nations of the world is still awaiting confirmation of its status as a legal entity - from those who enjoy no such standing.
Negotiations leading to peaceful co-existence are being attempted once again; a weary and wearying state of affairs. Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas continues to demand that millions of Palestinians be absorbed as official returnees into Israel. For, he claims, "I don't want 'peace at any price'". When it's obvious that what he means is he isn't certain peace is worth the effort he should be prepared to extend.
An effort that Abbas so obviously feels must be drawn out of a quartered Israel; not from the PA who appear willing to negotiate nothing, sacrifice nothing themselves for they are the entitled party here, not Israel, most apparently. "There won't be a [Palestinian] state without Jerusalem...We want, without word games, an end to the conquest of the lands from 1967..."
Conquest? Defence of the embattled state. A routing of invading Arab armies intent on vanquishing and removing Israel from the Middle East. A reaffirmation of her legal status as a nation, and the determination of her people to remain where they are, and to defend themselves whenever necessary. And to take back unto themselves the most holy places in their history, tradition and religion.
Look who is talking word games....
Sometimes, interpretation is everything, isn't it?
On April 27, 1950, the Arab National Committee of Haifa stated in a memorandum to the Arab States: "The removal of the Arab inhabitants [in 1948] was voluntary and was carried out at our request... The Arab delegation proudly asked for the evacuation of the Arabs and their removal to the neighboring Arab countries."
It should also be noted that the estimated 550,000 Arab refugees of 1948 include tens of thousands who moved into what became Israel in the years just before its establishment. Talk of long-term residence and entitlement of return. A useful sham, but, it would seem, par for the course in the Middle East with its constantly overstated rights.
Still, that being so, what of entitlement? Well, if Israel is agreeable to compensation for loss of property, that is a legitimate bargaining point, and in the interests of ensuring Israel remain Jewish, a cogent imperative. To completely and without further meanderings, be accepted as a solution to 'right of return'. Sixty years is a long time to languish with the thought of returning to what once was.
Yet Abbas speaks with authoritative conviction of the absolute requirement that returnees be absorbed into Israel's population, drowning all possibility of a Jewish plurality. That, according to Abbas is a "just solution". Foxily manoeuvrable, is he not? He is on record as stating that Israel must remain Jewish in character as in purpose, but insists nonetheless on state suicide to appease Palestinian demands.
Just as it takes two to tango, and dual-agreement to lay down arms there are rumours that Ehud Olmert has been negotiating elsewhere, achieving a tentative agreement with Jordan that Arabs residing in eastern Jerusalem will be granted Jordanian citizenship, leaving the old city's Muslim holy sites under the Hashemite kingdom's control.
Needless to say that plan could also be fraught with dreadful problems should control of the Temple Mount leave the hands of Israel.
Under the previous control of Jordan Jews were not permitted entry to the Temple Mount. And currently among many Arabs there is a movement to claim all of the area around Islam's third most holy site, the Dome of the Rock. To expunge all archaeological remnants of the ancient Second Temple, the first most holy site for Jews.
On yet another front, another plan has been raised for consideration. That Jordan be recognized as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian Arabs. Israel to assume full sovereignty of the area known as Judea and Samaria, with Jordan granting citizenship to the Arabs who reside there, in a co-operative approach to co-ordinating local governance.
Additionally, and vitally, all weapons in PA areas to be taken from all the militias. Something that, despite all his promises to do just that, in recognition of United Nations requirements in an effort to promote peace and eventual dual statehood, Mahmoud Abbas has never achieved, nor it would appear, attempted to achieve.
On the face of the evidence of the current Israel-PA peace talks, faltering inexorably before they even begin, it can be taken as a given, particularly in the light of earlier failed attempts, that were a Palestinian State to become a reality, there will be no attempt to rein in terrorist groups.
With the introduction of the idea and a commitment from Jordan's King Abdullah to achieve Jordanian-Palestinian reunification, regional stability may become a reality.
King Abdullah has given reason to believe that, like his father before him, he would work for peace as a result of regional realignment in the face of current realities. There is, in fact, a plan, outlined at www.hayozma.org which sets out details of a potential solution, with the collaboration of Israel and Jordan.
We can only hope, at a time when hope has become a fading commodity for the future.
Labels: Israel, Political Realities
posted by Pieface @ Monday, October 08, 2007
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