Dr. Gershon Baskin
Who's at fault?
Israel bemoans absence of Palestinian partner, but we are partly to blame
The State of Israel is on the defensive. Next month, pro-Palestinian groups across the world will be marking 40 years of occupation with calls for protests and boycott. The anti-Zionist movement is picking up speed. The entire world is against the occupation.
The good news is that the State of Israel is also against the occupation - its people and government seek peace with the Palestinian people on the basis of "two states for two peoples." Speaking at the United Nations in September 2005, Prime Minister Sharon said that the Palestinian people are "entitled to freedom and to national sovereign existence in a state of their own."
The Israeli public relations strategy must be premised on this position - the State of Israel wishes to end the occupation; it seeks peace and is willing to take risks in order to achieve it.
It is clear that there is no point in signing a peace agreement when the Palestinian government has no ability to fulfill its obligations. The Palestinian government is divided and mostly made up of a radical Islamic movement that seeks Israel's destruction and refuses to meet the international community's conditions. The Palestinian president wishes to advance peace, but he is unable to. How can we make any progress with the Palestinians if they are unable to put their own house in order? After all, we want to, but there is no partner…
This position of "no partner" was very convenient for Prime Ministers Barak and Sharon, who espoused complete separation from the Palestinians. However, today we still keep saying there is no partner. Palestinian leader Abbas is indeed weak, but instead of repeating this as if the State of Israel was not at least partly responsible for his weakness, we would do well to quickly grasp that his weakness does not serve us, and that Israel's actions only serve to further weaken his constantly deteriorating status.
Proof of this is the situation in the Gaza Strip: Israel argues that Abbas controls tens of thousands of uniformed police officers, who fail to curb the Qassam rocket attacks. Is that indeed the case? His loyalists have not been paid regularly for more than a year now. The Palestinian Authority's government system has collapsed a long time ago. Gaza Strip residents live without any personal or social security. They can see neither political nor economic horizon.
Radical elements pay every boy willing to fire Qassams at Israel NIS 250 (roughly USD 60.) The Gaza smuggling, and we are not only talking about arms, helps many make a living. Gaza residents have almost gotten used to the occurrences of abductions for ransom. There is no law and order. Private militias are being established on a daily basis.
Perhaps Israel does not bear direct responsibility for this situation, yet it is certainly a direct result of its policy. The complete lack of Palestinian Authority control in Gaza threatens its hold over the West Bank as well. Similarly, the weakening of the moderate and non-religious parts of Palestinian society boosts the radical Islamic sectors not only in Palestine, but rather, across the region.
Gaza's prisoners
Which elements have contributed to the growing chaos? Israel currently holds more than USD 600 million that belong to the Palestinian people. The Palestinian government's debt to the Palestinian private sector is about a billion dollars. Under these circumstances, the private sector is unable to contribute to stabilizing the situation.
Some members of the international community have resumed the transfer of funds to the Palestinians through Abbas' office and under the supervision of Finance Minister Salam Fayyad.
Senior Israeli Treasury, Defense, and Foreign Ministry officials say that Fayyad can be trusted. So why doesn't Israel transfer the funds it holds in the same manner? Injecting USD 600 million into the Palestinian economy would have had an immediate positive effect on the grim situation and would have greatly assisted in boosting the president and his moderate forces.
Instead, the IDF and Shin Bet are busy scaring the Israeli public in order to apparently prepare it for yet another useless military campaign in Gaza. They tell us that American General Dayton's plan for improving the economic situation in the Territories by easing restrictions on movement is dangerous, claiming that it would boost terror. They also say that opening the road connecting Gaza to the West Bank, even under Israeli monitoring, would enable the transfer of technologies - as if this information cannot be relayed through e-mail.
They are seemingly scared of the transfer of arms through truck convoys - yet each truck departing from Gaza undergoes a strict and thorough security screening process. Don't we trust this screening process, considered the most intrusive in the world? Why don't we approve and implement? Perhaps we prefer real estate and control over another people over an end to the occupation after all?
Instead of putting an end to our control over the Palestinian people, we invent patents that make us feel as though we are not occupiers, while maintaining the occupation nonetheless: For example, the unilateral disengagement; "We're here - “ they're there"; bypass roads that circumvent Palestinian communities, so that settlers can travel through the land of settlements as if there are no Arabs there; road arteries for Jews only; security fences, which are in fact separation walls and obstacles that enable us to maintain our control. Meanwhile, we're here - “ but we're also there. And so are they.
Does anyone actually believe that the Palestinians will resign themselves to the grand land grab taking place in the shadow of the walls? Does anyone think that the world will accept the imprisonment of millions in large detention camps such as the Gaza Strip and growing parts of the West Bank?
True, Israel left Gaza, yet the occupation there continues. Israel still maintains full control over the borders; we open and close them when we want to. The European observers in Rafah are helpless in the face of Israel's blatant violations of the agreement. Since the opening of the Gaza-Egypt crossing, the border has remained open roughly 30 percent of the agreed-upon time, thus leaving about a million and a half Palestinians imprisoned in one of the globe's most crowded areas.
Improving the product
How can we convince the world that we indeed wish to end the occupation and that we truly seek peace? Shimon Peres still talks about our desire to see our neighbors satiated. Who is he kidding? The Palestinian people's life is hell on earth. Indeed, we do not bear full responsibility for their condition, as they bear a significant part of the blame for their own suffering; yet this does not absolve us of all responsibility.
What should we do? We must recognize the Palestinian national unity government. Indeed, its members are not fans of Zionism, but there is enough space there in order for us to maintain contacts with it and advance Israeli interests.
We must immediately release the funds that belong to the Palestinian people and transfer them to the Palestinian Authority's Treasury. We must fully implement General Dayton's plan. We must fully reopen the Rafah crossing to Egypt. We must allow the Palestinians to set up a crossing point for goods in Rafah as an alternative to their complete dependence on crossing via Israel.
We must also declare that the State of Israel accepts the Arab peace initiative as a basis for restarting negotiations. We must declare that the negotiations will start with the ratification of the Clinton parameters, which moderates the Arab Initiative through the notion of territorial tradeoffs instead of clinging to the 1967 borders. We must declare that any improvement in the conduct of Palestinian Authority security arms will be rewarded with an Israeli redeployment outside towns and villages, including the removal of roadblocks.
If the State of Israel indeed seeks peace and truly wishes to end the occupation, it can undertake many moves in that direction instead of constantly declaring we have no partner.
If we truly wish to improve our public relations campaign, our only way to do it is to improve the product we are trying to sell. There is no room for more spins. The Arab Initiative; President Abbas; the Israeli Right, which is currently mostly confined to the opposition; and public support for the notion of peace - those are all conditions that would not repeat. We must not miss out on them.
Endnote: The June 5 Initiative has launched pro-Israeli-Palestinian peace demonstrations in Israel, Palestine and around the world calling for two-states for two peoples, end of occupation, end of conflict! See: www.june5.org
Gershon Baskin is the Co-Director of IPCRI, the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information
