Good-Will Gestures
How effective are good-will gestures in an hostile environment, slanted toward an audience for whom nothing will suffice to adequately persuade them that their best interests lie in accommodation and co-operation, not ongoing barrages of Kassam rockets? After all is said and done how has the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails furthered the cause of two solitudes preparing to deal honestly, with full integrity, with one another?Very little, it would seem. Some, if not many, of the previously-released Palestinians who had been incarcerated because of their violent acts of sabotage and attempts at murder against Israel and her people, consider release a game of repeat action. Signing a solemn oath not to return to terrorism, and giving up weapons is a temporary affair, soon to be flicked off as of no concern, as new weapons are acquired and new acts of terror embarked upon.
It's optics and smoke-and-mirrors, appearing to benefit none but the recalcitrant jihadists. Yet here is Israel preparing to release more and yet more, after a succession of previous releases. In the spirit of encouraging the Palestinian Authority and the people whom they represent to take Israel's wish to reach a mutually agreeable settlement toward peace seriously. Seriously. Human nature being what it is, the more one gives the more eagerly does the one who receives anticipate further gifts.
Now, in anticipation of the U.S.-sponsored summit to take place in Annapolis later this month, PA leaders are demanding, not requesting but demanding that Israel release no fewer than two thousand terrorists before the conference takes place. Israel has determined that a more likelier figure might be 300 to 400 terrorists, many of whom have been convicted of attempted murder, or of placing bombs in areas where it would be hoped numerous victims would result from the conflagration.
This too, against the backdrop of Cpl. Gilad Shalit still being held prisoner in Gaza. Israel releases hundreds of would-be murderers and one Israeli soldier continues to be held captive, despite all attempts to secure his release. Hamas, of course, is in control of Gaza at the present time. One-half of the Palestinian equation, which refuses to alter its charter to recognize the legitimacy of the State of Israel, and remains intent on destroying it.
And then there is the trifling matter of the sundered Palestinian Authority if one still recalls the legal election of Hamas, pre-split. When the current PA authority figures cannot represent all Palestinians in bargaining with Israel, what can conceivably result other than ongoing chaos? Fact is, Hamas and Fatah remain at a low-key fratricidal tribal war with one another. Five Fatah members killed this day in Gaza, when Hamas 'security forces' opened fire at a commemorative rally in honour of Yasser Arafat.
If 250,000 Fatah supporters can be brought together to rally in Gaza City, why can they not rally on behalf of peace? To insist that Hamas stand back and all terror activities cease and desist for the sake of reaching a peace agreement between the PA and Israel? If peace were seen as an imperative by the majority of people living under miserable conditions and deserving better, surely even half of that number could be mustered?
Yes, Hamas militia scattered the crowd as they pursued Fatah loyal and fired their weapons. Yes, many fleeing Fatah loyalists have been arrested. But the numbers speak, and if peace really were topmost in everyone's mind, and not a continuance of the more emotionally empowering opportunities for revenge and bloodshed, Hamas could very well be overcome through sheer determination to roust them from their desiccatedly-ineffective seat of power.
As long as it remains more vital to counter, contest and conquer Israel than look to their own well being and future prospects, the status quo will remain. A three-pronged devil's mission of Fatah versus Hamas, and the combined malevolence of both in urgent combat with Israel. Mahmoud Abbas refuses to acknowledge Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. For to do so would negate the PA demands on right of return. Canny, but not brilliant.
It must be the PA way or no way at all. For Israel to submit to surrendering all that she represents; her sovereignty as a Jewish state, the very reason for which she was formed; a refuge for world Jewry. Positioning the Jewish state in the Middle East, that very geography which represents her biblical-era birthplace, and the essence of ancient and current Israel in Jerusalem, goes to the core of her being.
What Mahmoud Abbas calls Palestinian "national rights", guaranteed them by international law, were those very options available to the Palestinian population back in 1948 when the United Nations offered their partition plan and which was summarily rejected by Palestinians.
Common sense and practical possibilities should inform that Israel must vacate the West Bank, painful as it will be to uproot settlements yet again. Or, Israel and the PA could negotiate borders more reflective of current demographics. And negotiate accommodation in sectors of Jerusalem, absent rendering the Old City to PA rule.
An interested and trusted third party could alternately administer the ancient holy sites for all affected; Jews, Christians, Muslims. Palestinian refugees can be handily accommodated within the current geography settled by the PA, helped by restorative payment in accord with land and properties left behind in Israel.
Drop the delusions.
Labels: Israel, Justice, Middle East, Troublespots
posted by Pieface @ Monday, November 12, 2007
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