Moshe Elad
The Barghouti illusion
Next Palestinian leader doesn't have to be murderer or prisoner
Outgoing Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh reportedly visited West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti at his prison cell. The fact that a senior Israeli official met with a murderer serving five life sentences at the Hadarim prison is less problematic than the fact Sneh met with a leader who is not a man of peace, but rather, a Fatah activist who gravely sabotaged the Oslo agreements, who was more belligerent towards us than Arafat, and whose future attitude is expected to be even more radical than Hamas'.
We already saw in the past the search for "moderate" Palestinian leaders who would be convenient for Israel and seemingly crown themselves over the Territories and enjoy Jerusalem's quiet support. Why then don't we learn from history? What motivates Israeli politicians to repeat past mistakes again and again? After all, all of these efforts failed, with some of them ending with the predictable murder of the wooed Palestinians.
Zafer al-Masri, for example, who responded to the Israeli regime's wooing and agreed to be appointed as the mayor of Nablus. He was murdered in March 1986 by members of the Abu-Nidal organization. In a manifesto issued by the organization, it explained the murder by noting that the person who was behind al-Masri's appointment was Brigadier General Ephraim Sneh, who at the time headed the Civil Administration in the Territories.
Would it be appropriate to release Barghouti? We should not be chiefly concerned with the requirement to serve his full sentence, as official Israel already shook hands with senior PLO figures boasting a past of terrorism who make Barghouti look like a prisoner sentenced to community service. Barghouti can be part of a deal to secure the release of our abducted soldiers in Lebanon or Gilad Shalit, or even Jonathan Pollard. However, the idea to release him from prison in order to "crown him" over the West Bank is a crazy idea lacking any wisdom. Why?
The "sheriff" era is over. In the wake of the farce that saw the collapse of the Gaza Strip security apparatuses led by Muhammad Dahlan, the man who for years was nicknamed "Gaza's Sheriff" but turned out to be an empty Palestinian promise, we must no longer gamble on "strongmen" within Palestinian society. The Israelis who marketed Dahlan as the next Palestinian leader are also Barghouti's campaigners and now characterize him as the "West Bank sheriff" or the "Nelson Mandela of the Territories." Yet it is clear to all that traditional institutions in the deteriorating Palestinian society are disintegrating, and today there is no sweeping and moderate leader in Palestine.
The era of symbols is over. After an infuriated Palestinian mob chanted "Death to Abbas" and after an incited Gaza mob looted the home of the grand symbol Yasser Arafat, and after the horrifying massacre of Fatah members that saw the assassination of the "famous Palestinian unity" notion, the Palestinians realize that the era of national symbols is over. It appears that Palestinian society will have to produce new symbols that are more realistic and universal and less Palestinian.
The crowning era is over. Reality in the Territories shows that those released on the initiative of the Israeli government are tainted as collaborators and as such become a target for assassination or are destined to be forgotten. Alternately, such a person would become more radical than he was before just so he can clear the collaborator stain. The early release of Barghouti just because Israel is searching for an agreeable partner for negotiations on the future of the Territories would no doubt taint Barghouti as the "ultimate collaborator." In the early 1980s Israel already "crowned" the "Village Committees" in the West Bank and supported several local leaders and mayors. Their letters of credence already seemed to include their death certificate.
New thinking pattern needed. When it comes to the Palestinian question, the Israeli policy must free itself of the "thinking in equations" pattern. We must stop clinging to anachronistic tactics such as "deploying a counterweight." That is, if Hamas controls the area and we don't like it, we'll deploy Marwan Barghouti as a counterweight. It is indeed true that the picture emerging in the Territories does not bode well: Hamas' rise, Fatah's weakness, and the street anarchy etc. are not indications of hope. Despite all this, and despite diplomatic and other constraints, we must exercise patience.
An alternative in the form of rapid active intervention just in order to "create momentum" and determine the identity of the next Palestinian leader never helped Israel. When the Palestinians themselves, as a people and as a society, will understand that only moderate authentic leadership would help them end the dead-end they are facing, they may give rise to such leadership. Let's allow them to grow their own leader; he does not have to be a murderer or a prisoner.
