Pathology of self-deception

Israeli Foreign Ministry "sources" said, in the wake of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's Cairo visit, that the Arab League apparently gave up its preconditions for negotiations with Israel – that is, its demand for  Israeli agreement in advance to withdrawal to the 1967 borders and halting the construction of the fence.

However, then came the Arab League's secretary-general, Amr Moussa, and announced: This is not true at all. There will be no change in what is referred to as the "Arab peace initiative," including resolution 194, which is just the same as the right of return, under a different guise.

So who should we believe? As I am personally familiar with both those Foreign Ministry "sources" and the Arab League secretary-general, it is difficult for me not to be convinced that there is a certain attempt to embellish reality to some extent on the Israeli side that stems, among other things, from political and "post-Winograd" constraints.

It is no secret that not only in Jerusalem, but also in Europe – and what's even more worrisome, in Washington – there are those who wish to cling to the above-mentioned Arab plan as a solution for the conflict, even though in practice it is nothing but a dictate that contains the seed of the next wars.

The plan, as we know, is not new, but there is no doubt that its revival at this junction is not coincidental. In the wake of the last war's failures, the Arabs estimate that Israel can be pressured and blackmailed – while the American administration, which seeks in any way possible to extract itself from the Iraqi quagmire, needs something that can be presented, even for a short while, as a Mideastern breakthrough, in order to possibly gain Saudi support to the moves being adopted in the Gulf.

Moreover: The administration in general and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in particular have a strong desire to improve their image in the eyes of history. Meanwhile, we are supposed to be delighted with the visits of Egypt's and Jordan's foreign ministers as the "Arab League's emissaries."

State of delusion

The ministers are certainly welcome guests, even though based on various Arab declarations their main objective is to "convince the Israeli public to see the Arab initiative's benefits."

In other words, they seek to manage a psychological campaign in order to crumble Israeli public opinion, just as the Egyptian government hoped to do in 1978, prior to the Camp David conference, in order to undermine the Israeli public's cohesion through Peace Now demonstrations.

Recently, a book called "The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People under Siege" was published in the United States. The author, Jewish-American historian Kenneth Levin, premises his argument, among other things, on Barbara Tuchman's well-known statement in her book, "The March of Folly" – "A phenomenon noticeable throughout history regardless of place or period is the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests."

Tuchman's words are perfectly commensurate with the current situation. Levin believes that Israeli society is in a state of delusion, a deception that stems from thinking and behavioral habits that have been entrenched throughout the years of exile. Life under constant danger of persecution, pogroms, massacres and oppression created among Jews a permanent phenomenon of self-deception when addressing reality.

In Levin's view, Israeli reality created a similar phenomenon, as we are talking about a small nation facing siege since its inception and surrounded by enemies that hate it and question its very right to exist. The Oslo agreement is described by Levin as the gravest case in human history where a nation hurt itself with its own hands.

We can disagree with some of Levin's incisive statements. For example, as opposed to the position of Jews in the Diaspora, the Israeli public and pre-Israel Jewish communities were able to contend with moments of crisis.

On the other hand, in face of the various declarations regarding the "Arab peace initiative," it appears that the current Israeli government indeed suffers from that same pathological flaw of self-deception – the one that led to the Oslo agreement with Arafat, the second intifada, and thousands of victims who lost their lives.

Zalman Shoval is a former ambassador to the US