Wednesday, October 9, 1996
NETANYAHU:
Israel must reconcile with Arafat to achieve a lasting peace
Two years ago, who would have thought that terrorism and
extremism could fundamentally alter the state of affairs in the
Middle East? First came the murder of Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish
extremist, then the fortuitous suicide bombings which pushed
Rabin’s successor, Shimon Peres, out of office.
The saddest note is that these fanatics were successful: they
played an integral role in the election of Prime Minister Benjamin
"Bibi" Netanyahu, who since his administration began last May, has
successfully alienated virtually every leader in the Middle East
and the United States and has come ever so close to burning down
the bridge for peace for which his predecessors devoted their
lives. He has alienated the people and leaders of Egypt, Jordan,
Syria, the United States and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Common sense also dictates that unless Israel’s Likud government
begins to act more conciliatory towards its neighbors, the
situation in the Middle East will further degenerate and the
Palestinian people will begin another Intifadah (an armed
uprising), which will result in even more animosity and more
casualties on both sides.
In order to better understand Netanyahu’s actions, it is
important to understand his upbringing, schooling and his tour as a
Mossad commando, a branch of Israel’s secret service.
Netanyahu’s parents, strong Zionists, immigrated to Palestine
from Lithuania in 1920. Netanyahu inherited his right-wing politics
from his father, a disciple of Zetev Jabotinsky, the founder of
revisionist Zionism.
When he was 14, he moved to Pennsylvania, where his father was a
college professor. After he graduated, he served in Israel’s most
elite special forces unit, the Mossad.
He was among the commandos who, in 1972, successfully stormed a
hijacked jet on the tarmac at the Tel Aviv airport. His brother,
Jonathan, served in the same unit, and in 1976, was killed by
terrorists when he was leading his team that rescued the passengers
from a hijacked jet in Uganda. The death of his brother greatly
traumatized him, and the Netanyahus founded the Jonathan Institute,
which is devoted to the study of terrorism.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture and a masters in
business administration from MIT and later worked at a consulting
firm in Boston. After a job with Moshe Arens, Israeli ambassador to
the U.S. in Washington, Netanyahu realized the power of the global
media and worked to advance at home by becoming Israel’s most
engaging and articulate advocate abroad.
Netanyahu was elected essentially for two reasons. First, Peres
ran a horrible campaign. In other words, Peres lost the election
more than Netanyahu actually won it.
Second, the suicide bombings around the time of the Israeli
elections made the citizens of Israel feel that their sense of
security had been violated and that they needed a more hard-line,
hard-nosed approach to dealing with terrorism and the
Palestinians.
Netanyahu, claiming he would adopt an extreme right-wing
approach in dealing with the PLO and Hamas, appealed to Israel’s
sense of security.
The question then remains: where should Netanyahu go from
here?
Some say it would be politically suicidal for the prime minister
to deviate from the hard-line policies which got him elected.
This argument is absurd for the following reasons. First, there
is no other option. A further decay of the peace process is too
frightening to speak of. Second, if Israel expects to be treated by
its neighbors as a sovereign nation, then it must not renege on all
of the peace agreements formed under the Peres and Rabin
administrations. Since its inception in 1948, one of Israel’s goals
vis-a-vis its neighbors has been to establish trust and use it as a
foundation for negotiation.
Such a trust, albeit it a fragile one, began in 1979 with the
Camp David accords, was augmented during the Peres and Rabin years.
If Netanyahu reneges on all of the settlements made by past
administrations, Israel would be returned to square one.
Finally, the reason for which the people of Israel voted for
Netanyahu, to restore the sense of security eradicated during the
suicide bombings, is now obsolete. The sense of security slips
further away with every one of Netanyahu’s actions.
It is important to remember that when the United States, Arafat
and the Palestinian police, and the Israelis were working together
to weed out Hamas, they made tremendous progress toward eradicating
Hezbollah and Hamas. They formed a trust during this cooperation.
So much so, in fact, that the Israelis actually gave weapons to the
Palestinian police.
Unfortunately, the voters of Israel did not grasp the
significance of this cooperation in time, and chose Netanyahu. Now,
of course, these very weapons were used by the Palestinian police
to shoot Israeli soldiers when Netanyahu made the decision to
excavate and patrol the tunnel which runs under the Dome of the
Rock.
While I am by no means a seasoned, well-decorated political
scientist who is any way qualified to advise Netanyahu as to his
future course of action, he needs all the help he can get.
Step 1: Reconciliation with Arafat and the PLO. How? First,
learn to appreciate Arafat’s situation with the PLO. If he doesn’t
produce results and PLO workers continue to get uprooted, he will
be replaced or assassinated.
Even Netanyahu, in his current state of mind, knows that while
Arafat isn’t perfect, he is far more dovish than virtually every
other member of the PLO, which, only a few years earlier, was a
militaristic, fundamentalist terrorist organization whose charter
still calls for the bloody murder of all Israelis around the world.
In short, no Arafat, no peace.
Step 2: Get out of the tunnel. For the lay Bruin, this is a
tunnel in the Old City of Jerusalem which leads from the Wailing
Wall (in the Jewish quarter of the city) and continues under the
Dome of the Rock (in the heart of the Arab quarter), the most
sacred Arab religious site.
Netanyahu has insisted that the tunnel remain in Israel’s hands,
despite its overlap with the Arab quarter. Netanyahu, supporting
his belief that all of Jerusalem is Israel’s, has insisted on
patrols of the tunnel. The direct result has been the stoning of
resident Israelis and the exchange of fire between Israeli and
Palestinian police that has killed 75 to date.
People don’t understand the proximity of the Israeli quarter to
the Arab one, or of the Israeli settlements to the Palestinian
ones. For hostilities to continue between the two would be the
equivalent of California waging war with Nevada, only without the
mountains in between. Or even better, North Campus kicking the crap
out of South Campus, but I digress. Given all of the friction
generated over this issue, it simply is not worth Netanyahu’s
obstinacy.
Step 3: Agree to a long-term schedule of high-level meetings
with PLO officials. That PLO officials still want negotiations
testifies to their resolve for peace. Netanyahu must stop attaching
all kinds of absurd conditions to his presence at the bargaining
table. If he continues to be so stubborn, the PLO and Arafat will
no longer seek peace talks, the results of which go without
saying.
Step 4: Get out of Gaza, and push for stability there. Also,
stop expansion into the West Bank and allow all of the
disenfranchised Palestinians to return to their homes there.
As a Jew, these options are very difficult to suggest due to
personal beliefs, but the simple reality is that the implementation
of anything but these options will continue the downward spiral
whose repercussions so far have been 75 dead. The Palestinians who
had lost their homes and jobs could now return to work. Uprooted
Palestinians means pissed-off Palestinians. Too many p.o.’d
Palestinians means a rise in terrorism which will shakes Israel’s
sense of security to the core.
Step 5: Reconciliation with Egypt and Jordan. The progress that
Israel made with these two nations under Peres and Rabin, on
political, social and economic levels, was astounding. Business and
tourism were on the rise, with Israeli companies constructing
factories in both countries, thereby decreasing local unemployment
and improving the local economy.
If economic interdependence between these two nations resumes,
peace is more likely to follow. If Bibi turns his back on them, au
revoir.
All of these suggested improvements would make the United States
extremely happy.
Netanyahu’s recent idiocies have strained relations between
Israel and Bill Clinton, one of the most pro-Israel presidents
ever. Netanyahu’s policies have had a devastating effect on the
public opinion of the United States vis-a-vis Israel. With public
support for Israel waning, it puts Clinton in a very awkward
position. On one hand, he would love to support Israel. Yet, at the
same time, it could make him look bad to support a government which
is directly responsible for the decay of stability in one of the
world’s most vital regions. Israel’s status worldwide would plummet
without the unwavering support of the U.S.
There is no doubt that this recipe will be more likely to cook
up peace than Netanyahu’s current recipe for disaster. If you have
any doubts about the veracity of my predictions, I direct you to
the April 30 Daily Bruin. I seem to recall saying something to the
effect of, "the consequences of a Peres defeat in the election
would be disastrous for the peace process. The Likud party has
outwardly condemned the peace process and says it will refuse to
support many of Israel’s treaties with its neighbors."
I rest my case.
Josh White is a second-year student of political science and
French. His column appears on alternate Wednesdays.