Via Altercation, here’s a succinct statement as to what are the obstacles to peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, as well as who is to blame for not overcoming those obstacles, from “Amos Elon, an Israeli, . . . in the current New York Review of Books:”
The three main impediments to an Israeli-Palestinian agreement are the settlements, control over Jerusalem, and the Palestinian demand for the right of return of the Palestinian refugees and/or compensation for their loss. Of these, however, the problem of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem seems to be the most difficult to resolve. Taken together, these settlements are a huge, intentionally created obstacle that affects hundreds of thousands of lives. And for what? In the best case, the settlements extend the Israeli border to the east by a few miles, a distance devoid of serious strategic meaning; in the worst case, they could perpetuate the hundred-year war between the two peoples indefinitely. Yet there are now so many settlers — over 250,000 in the West Bank — that it may turn out to be impossible to dismantle communities created with the precise aim of precluding a repartitioning of the country. Too many lives, too many political careers and real estate interests — i.e., too many people and political factions within Israel — may depend on it. On the occasion of President Bush’s recent visit to Israel, the lead editorial in Haaretz blamed Bush for being an “accomplice after the fact” in the illegal, constantly expanding Israeli settlement project in the West Bank.
Of course, Bush is not the only accomplice. You might recall that under the Clinton administration, restricting Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory was not exactly a priority either.
Perhaps the most destructive aspect of the Clinton-led peace process was its unwillingness to insist that Israel stop the expansion of Jewish settlements and the taking of land destined for a Palestinian state. Many of the settlements, and all those in tiny crowded Gaza, should have been evacuated early in the process. It is because of the settlements that the pending state of Palestine has taken the shape of islands separated one from another by hostile settlers and the Israeli military. No wonder the Palestinian people lost confidence in the peace negotiations and ultimately in Israel’s commitment to peace itself.
Of course there are reasons that our Presidents have been unwilling to take on the issue of the settlements. The influence of Israel’s right wing supporters, lobbyists and organizations such as AIPAC is one of the principle causes why halting and reversing these settlements is never on the negotiating table. And then there is the question of our own elite media institutions, which for whatever reasons, rarely comment or consider Israel’s settlement process in the Palestinian territories as an impediment to peace.
Eric Alterman after quoting Mr. Elon above, asks the rhetorical question: “How is it that the “pro-Israeli” position in the U.S. media is to ignore the settlements as a cause of violence and an impediment to peace, when so many Israelis feel that way as well?” He then goes on to answer it, in part, by claiming that the current influence of right wing Christians such as John Haggee, who see the expansion of the State of Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem as a necessary requirement to achieving their dream of and end time apocalypse, should bear some of the blame. Yet even the support of extremist Christian fundamentalists, like Hagee, doesn’t explain the reluctance to discuss the problem of the settlements in America’s major news media, when it is a common topic in Israel’s press.
Indeed, it is almost always Palestinian intransigence and “terrorist actions” by Hamas, and anyone who supports Hamas, such as Iran, who are blamed for the failure of the “current” peace process:
As would-be peacemakers bask in the international limelight of the Annapolis conference, back in the Middle East two other parties are serving up notice that no deal will come to pass, if they can help it: Iran and its Palestinian ally, Hamas.
On the other hand, the violence perpetrated by Israel’s governments against the Palestinian people, including the use of “collective punishment” as well as the bulldozing of Palestinian buildings and homes, and the use of the Israeli military ground and air forces to target the “terrorists” often killing Palestinian civilians is rarely if ever mentioned as a barrier to a peace agreement.
Nor is much made of the inaction of many of our Arab allies to the plight of the Palestinians, whose governments cynically use the Palestinian issue to misdirect the anger of their own populations away from their own dictatorial and often brutal regimes and towards the readily available scapegoat: Israel and the Jews. It’s as if the Arab governments and Israel were in some sort of sick symbiotic relationship, in which each benefits from the current situation while ordinary Palestinians suffer the misery of occupation in Gaza or the West Bank, or exile in Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, etc.
Right now the current Presidential candidates rarely, if ever speak about Israel and the Palestinians, or what steps their administrations would take to end the stalemate. And that is because they are afraid to cross AIPAC and inevitable media firestorm that would result from any criticism of Israel’s actions in building settlements in the occupied territories, much less Israel’s actions in oppressing the Palestinian people essentially living under conditions of an “apartheid” regime mandated by Israeli policies over the last four decades, but particularly those implemented by right wing and conservative led Israeli governments. All Senators Obama, Clinton and McCain are willing to do at this point is repeat the by now oft repeated mantra of their undying support for the State of Israel and its right to exist. To say anything more, to indicate that they would make demands on Israel to end the settlements, would be political suicide.
At some point (and who can say when that point will be reached?), the failure of America, Europe and the rest of the world to address this problem will result in either a regional apocalypse, or the outright genocide of the Palestinian people. The Middle East has never been more unstable than it is today. Regional arms races are under way, aided and abetted by the sale of US weapons to our “friends” in the region, which include not only Israel but Egypt, the Saudis and the other Gulf states. Iran is going down a path that may very well lead to the development of nuclear weapons as a bulwark against Israel’s nuclear capabilities. Either Israel will attack them, or other Arab states in the region will begin their own efforts to obtain nuclear weapons. And this doesn’t even consider the risk of Pakistani nukes falling into the hands of stateless terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda or Hamas.
Unless a comprehensive diplomatic effort is made to address the security situation in the Mideast, which of necessity must include a resolution of the “Palestinian problem,” I fear that John McCain’s recent assertion that there will be more wars will become a self fulfilling prophecy. But you won’t hear about any of that on the campaign trail this year from our current contenders/pretenders to the throne of George Bush. The greatest risk to our national security and to peace in the world is the one topic that no American politician will dare talk about.
Update [2008-2-12 9:20:25 by Steven D]: Speak of the devil. Take look at who just authorized 1000 new settlements homes in east Jerusalem.
Israeli housing minister Zeev Boim says tenders will soon be issued for construction of more than 1,000 new homes for Jews in East Jerusalem.
Israel annexed the area in 1967 and has continued settlement activity despite a recent freeze on settlements on other occupied territory in the West Bank.
