ENDING THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT
By Jack A. Smith
There is a way for the Palestinian and Israeli people to live in peace and security, but the policies of the governments of Israel and the United States are leading in the opposite direction.
The decision by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel to launch an invasion of Palestinian territories is obviously an outrage against the Palestinian people and a disservice to the interests of the Israeli people as well. This view appears to be held by various left and progressive sectors in most countries, including within Israel, and was the incentive for demonstrations throughout the world condemning Israel’s violence in the occupied West Bank.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annon said April 13 that Israel’s reckless destruction in the refugee camps justified sending an international force to the area “to create a secure environment” for the besieged inhabitants.
The Israeli army’s devastating strikes against an essentially defenseless community have created a dilemma for Washington because as justification Sharon has quite logically deployed the rhetoric of the Bush administration’s war on terrorism. The United States cannot seriously challenge Sharon’s pogrom, even if it wanted to, for fear of inadvertently reflecting critical light upon the Bush administration’s shadowy tactics and concealed motivations in its own so-called anti-terror campaign.
But Washington had to communicate the public appearance of mildly chiding Sharon last week to safeguard its broader designs. For the U.S. to remain mute while its closest satellite was attacking civilians in refugee camps and towns could have caused the disintegration of the carefully constructed coalition of nations supporting President Bush’s war on terrorism. Without backing from at least a good part of the coalition, the Bush administration may find it impossible to wage a new war against the Iraqi government.
While political imperatives forced Bush to call upon Sharon to end his invasion -- easily granting him sufficient additional time to wreak havoc in the process -- the Bush administration has not been discomforted by Israel’s refusal to adhere to a U.S. timetable for withdrawal from Palestinian territory. The important consideration is that White House “criticism” of the invasion is on record. After Sharon decides his army has obtained its objectives and the Palestinian territories have been reduced to rubble, Secretary of State Colin Powell may well be able to take credit for arranging yet another cease-fire and perhaps a further round of peace talks with a now gravely weakened Palestinian Authority.
This maneuver will hardly lead to a genuine peace because it avoids the legitimate issues that spawned the resistance to repression in the first place. Unless those issues are resolved, the attrition will continue indefinitely because there simply is going to be no peace without justice for the Palestinians.
We think the most effective way to bring peace to the region is for the U.S. government to transform its historic one-sided support for Israel into a balanced policy to satisfy the real interests of both peoples. It is abundantly evident, however, that Washington has no plans to change its half-century collaboration in the suppression of Palestinian national aspirations if so doing risks undermining the alliance with its loyal surrogate in the Middle East.
Why does the key to peace repose in Washington? Because this is from whence Israel derives its $3 billion annual subsidy, sophisticated weaponry, and the political-military protection of the most powerful state in world history. The U.S. has helped Israel to become a world-class military power, unrivaled in the Middle East and even stronger than the Pentagon’s own forces in the region. At this stage, the Israeli armed forces -- composed of 600,000 active duty and reserve troops amounting to 19 army divisions -- have at their disposal over 4,000 tanks, nearly 8,000 armored vehicles, almost 300 advanced U.S. F-15/F-16 jet fighters, 150 armed helicopters, 1,600 field artillery pieces, and a devastating arsenal of nuclear weapons. The Palestinian people subject to this power do not have an army and their small police force has virtually been destroyed. Mainly, they have used stones as weapons. They have some guns and hand grenades. And now sheer desperation has led a relative few of them to become suicide bombers.
Even though many times more Palestinian civilians have been killed than Israeli civilians during the current intifada -- a disproportion compounded grotesquely by the swath of destruction now disfiguring West Bank towns and refugee camps -- Sharon seeks to justify his violent tactics and refusal to establish an honest peace with the Palestinian Authority on the grounds of defense against suicide bombings in Israel.
The killing of civilians for political purposes has repeatedly been denounced by President Yasir Arafat, as he did again April 13 during talks with Powell in Ramallah where he is held under house arrest. Arafat likewise condemned Israel for “accelerating its military escalation, its occupation and its blockade of our people, our villages, refugee camps, towns and destroying our infrastructure completely.” Israel has never presented convincing evidence of a connection between these bombings and the Palestinian governance. Sharon is using the actions of individual bombers as a pretext to invade Palestinian territory, to destroy its political, economic and social fabric and to smash the resistance once and for all. This is the U.S.-Israeli way of preparing for peace talks with a society and infrastructure so ravished that it will agree to onerous terms.
Regarding the suicide bombings, it must be understood that the Palestinians are engaged in a world-recognized struggle for national liberation, self-determination and dignity as a people. Their resistance is the result of oppression compounded by over 50 years of poverty, humiliation, diaspora and despair. The suicide bombers are the extreme product of this volatile conjunction of grievances. Their intention is to destroy the myth of Israeli’s invincible security, even at the cost of their own lives. These bombings, however dramatic, constitute only a fraction of the overall struggle for freedom, and will end when there is some authentic relief from the increasingly torturous conditions imposed by the Israeli government.
To secure the well-being of both the peoples of the Palestinian territories and of Israel, the United States must be pressured to use its dominant influence to convince the Israeli government to immediately withdraw its troops, to end the illegal long-standing occupation, to stop building new settlements and to evacuate existing settlements in time, to return to pre-1967 boundaries, and to recognize a viable Palestinian state.
These are the only measures that will allow the Palestinian people to extricate themselves from a condition of powerless dependency that has been their lot for decades. And they represent the only possibility of bringing a lasting peace to the region. Yes, there are voices who will object to the mere existence of a Palestine, or an Israel. But we think the great majority in both societies would benefit from an end to the occupation and a two-state solution with guarantees of security for each state. Both the U.S. and Israel have trifled with the concept of an independent Palestine, but neither has been willing to see this come to fruition in the past.
What would it take to convince the right-wing Israeli government to agree to these policies? The U.S. has the ability, though hardly the will at this juncture, to effect substantial changes in Israel's present policies by stipulating that it is prepared to terminate all economic, military and political support to the Israeli government unless it agrees to an equitable resolution to the Palestinian plight. This would provide a compelling incentive, even to an extremist like Sharon. The White House and Congress, however, have repeatedly declared that the U.S. would not end its generous support for Israel under any circumstances. According to a Time/CNN Harris poll released April 12, 60% of 1,003 adult Americans questioned said they favored a cut-off of aid to Israel if Sharon did not immediately withdraw his troops.
Washington will only budge in this regard when it is forced to do so by the pressure of overwhelming world -- and especially domestic -- public opinion and activism. We believe left and progressive forces in the U.S. must unite in action to help create such pressure. This includes the antiwar movement as well, for Sharon’s invasion of Palestinian territory must be understood as logical extension of Bush’s wars on terrorism. The antiwar protests in Washington April 20 will critically address the current devastation wrought by the Israeli army and call for a “free Palestine,” as well as a host of other issues attendant upon the administration’s wars and increasing militarism. Fulfillment of the demand for a free Palestine -- meaning an end to the dreadful occupation and a beginning of the process leading to an independent, viable Palestinian state -- is the only way to achieve lasting peace and security for both these peoples of the Middle East.