Smiles
December 1st, 2006, 04:39
Found this article in the Globe & Mail yesterday. Amongst the dozens (hundreds!) of think pieces on the never-ending Palestine/Israeli problem available in newspapers and magazines this one seems to me to be one of the most reasoned, objective (written by an Israeli novelist), and ~ uncommon in this nasty and vicious theatre ~ thoughtfully humane.
Politicians generally pay little heed to novelists and artists (sometimes a good thing) ... I assume they consider the breed to be naive to a fault. But sometimes ~ as in this case ~ a writer-by-trade can speak some hard truths which need to be shouted from rooftops. For Mr Oz he contends that the players in this sad and decades-long conflict will very shortly conclude that there is no where else to go but to hold their own noses and negotiate a comprehensive settlement that each rather dislike (because of their vicious pasts together), yet can accept as livable without being perfect.
One hopes so ....
By the light of a truce
We see the painful deal. Palestinians and Israelis just have to grit their teeth, says AMOS OZ
If it lasts, the ceasefire that Israel and the Palestinians announced on Sunday is a first step. At least three more steps need to be taken in its wake: the release of prisoners, the establishment of a new Palestinian government that advocates co-existence with Israel rather than its destruction, and the commencement of comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Will these steps be taken soon? That depends on whether the ceasefire is a lasting one. It's possible that the Palestinians have learned the hard way that shelling Israeli towns does not bring them closer to independence, just as the Israelis have learned that large-scale military operations do not silence the Palestinians.
There is reason to believe that the Hamas government's policies have reached a dead end. They have resulted in an international and Israeli blockade, ongoing anguish, and needless casualties. There is also reason to believe that the Israeli government realizes that there are no unilateral solutions, and that there is no option other than to try to reach an agreement.
Not insignificant forces, the fanatical forces on each side, continue to fan the flames. They brand any compromise as defeatism, as a display of weakness. Palestinian extremists aspire to carry on the "armed struggle" until the state of Israel is liquidated. Israeli extremists demand that their government reconquer the Gaza Strip and renounce once and for all the idea of relinquishing the occupied territories. The Israel-Palestinian bloodbath, and the feeling that there is no way out of it, have led the moderates on both sides to lose hope. The weakness of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas amplify this despair.
Many advocates of peace are listless. They feel as if fanaticism has sunk any chance for peace in a sea of blood. But this listlessness, this sense of helplessness, empowers the extremists on both sides. Only a few years ago, the peace forces in Israel filled the public squares and toppled first the government of Yitzhak Shamir, and then that of Benjamin Netanyahu. They opened a door to mutual recognition by the two nations. The most recent election brought peace's advocates to power in a centre-left government whose principal platform was unilateral Israeli withdrawal from most of the occupied territories.
Then, when Hezbollah attacked Israel last summer, this government embarked on a military campaign in Lebanon. What should have been a short, limited and justified operation was stretched into a long and wretched war. By its end, the Olmert government had lost its will, with the exception of its will to remain in office. The Palestinians, for their part, were led by Hamas's minority government into extremist belligerency and refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist, positions similar to those that led the Palestinians into their great catastrophe in 1948.
But it may well be that a change has come over both sides. Both seem to realize they are in a blind alley. Both fear the vicious circle that has trapped them. If the ceasefire lasts, and if it leads to the release of prisoners and the establishment of a pragmatic Palestinian government, we may find ourselves on the verge of a new beginning. We don't need an international peace conference, or new European peace plans. We need direct negotiations.
Negotiations about what? Not about "convergence," Mr. Olmert's euphemism for unilaterally disengaging from the Palestinians and putting them behind a fence. Not about a hudna or a tahadiya, the Arabic words for the temporary armistice or truce that Palestinian leaders have suggested. We need an all-inclusive, comprehensive, bilateral agreement that will resolve all aspects of the war between Israel and Palestine.
What provisions will such an agreement contain? That is where the hope lies. Because both the Israelis and Palestinians know, deep in their hearts, how such an agreement will look, and how it will not look. Even its opponents on both sides know, deep in their hearts, what will be in the agreement and what won't. Even those, on both sides, who view such an agreement as treason and as a disaster, know deep in their hearts that the agreement will provide for two states, Israel and Palestine, whose border will be the line that existed before 1967, with revisions agreed on mutually. And there will be two capitals in Jerusalem. And there will be no "right of return" for the Palestinians, just as most of Israel's settlements will be evacuated.
Both nations know this. Does that knowledge make them happy? Certainly not. Will Israelis and Palestinians dance in the streets on the day this inevitable agreement is implemented? Certainly not. We are talking about a painful agreement, one that both sides will have to grit their teeth to accept. But the good news is that both nations already know this compromise will come, at the end of the road.
How much more time, how much more suffering, and how much more bloodletting are needed before the leaders of Israel and Palestine reach the point that both peoples have, with a heavy heart, already reached? Sunday's ceasefire, if it holds, may be the first glimmer of light at the end of the darkness.
(Israeli novelist Amos Oz is a founder of Peace Now) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... =palestine (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061129.COMIDE29/TPStory/?query=palestine)
Cheers ...
Politicians generally pay little heed to novelists and artists (sometimes a good thing) ... I assume they consider the breed to be naive to a fault. But sometimes ~ as in this case ~ a writer-by-trade can speak some hard truths which need to be shouted from rooftops. For Mr Oz he contends that the players in this sad and decades-long conflict will very shortly conclude that there is no where else to go but to hold their own noses and negotiate a comprehensive settlement that each rather dislike (because of their vicious pasts together), yet can accept as livable without being perfect.
One hopes so ....
By the light of a truce
We see the painful deal. Palestinians and Israelis just have to grit their teeth, says AMOS OZ
If it lasts, the ceasefire that Israel and the Palestinians announced on Sunday is a first step. At least three more steps need to be taken in its wake: the release of prisoners, the establishment of a new Palestinian government that advocates co-existence with Israel rather than its destruction, and the commencement of comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Will these steps be taken soon? That depends on whether the ceasefire is a lasting one. It's possible that the Palestinians have learned the hard way that shelling Israeli towns does not bring them closer to independence, just as the Israelis have learned that large-scale military operations do not silence the Palestinians.
There is reason to believe that the Hamas government's policies have reached a dead end. They have resulted in an international and Israeli blockade, ongoing anguish, and needless casualties. There is also reason to believe that the Israeli government realizes that there are no unilateral solutions, and that there is no option other than to try to reach an agreement.
Not insignificant forces, the fanatical forces on each side, continue to fan the flames. They brand any compromise as defeatism, as a display of weakness. Palestinian extremists aspire to carry on the "armed struggle" until the state of Israel is liquidated. Israeli extremists demand that their government reconquer the Gaza Strip and renounce once and for all the idea of relinquishing the occupied territories. The Israel-Palestinian bloodbath, and the feeling that there is no way out of it, have led the moderates on both sides to lose hope. The weakness of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas amplify this despair.
Many advocates of peace are listless. They feel as if fanaticism has sunk any chance for peace in a sea of blood. But this listlessness, this sense of helplessness, empowers the extremists on both sides. Only a few years ago, the peace forces in Israel filled the public squares and toppled first the government of Yitzhak Shamir, and then that of Benjamin Netanyahu. They opened a door to mutual recognition by the two nations. The most recent election brought peace's advocates to power in a centre-left government whose principal platform was unilateral Israeli withdrawal from most of the occupied territories.
Then, when Hezbollah attacked Israel last summer, this government embarked on a military campaign in Lebanon. What should have been a short, limited and justified operation was stretched into a long and wretched war. By its end, the Olmert government had lost its will, with the exception of its will to remain in office. The Palestinians, for their part, were led by Hamas's minority government into extremist belligerency and refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist, positions similar to those that led the Palestinians into their great catastrophe in 1948.
But it may well be that a change has come over both sides. Both seem to realize they are in a blind alley. Both fear the vicious circle that has trapped them. If the ceasefire lasts, and if it leads to the release of prisoners and the establishment of a pragmatic Palestinian government, we may find ourselves on the verge of a new beginning. We don't need an international peace conference, or new European peace plans. We need direct negotiations.
Negotiations about what? Not about "convergence," Mr. Olmert's euphemism for unilaterally disengaging from the Palestinians and putting them behind a fence. Not about a hudna or a tahadiya, the Arabic words for the temporary armistice or truce that Palestinian leaders have suggested. We need an all-inclusive, comprehensive, bilateral agreement that will resolve all aspects of the war between Israel and Palestine.
What provisions will such an agreement contain? That is where the hope lies. Because both the Israelis and Palestinians know, deep in their hearts, how such an agreement will look, and how it will not look. Even its opponents on both sides know, deep in their hearts, what will be in the agreement and what won't. Even those, on both sides, who view such an agreement as treason and as a disaster, know deep in their hearts that the agreement will provide for two states, Israel and Palestine, whose border will be the line that existed before 1967, with revisions agreed on mutually. And there will be two capitals in Jerusalem. And there will be no "right of return" for the Palestinians, just as most of Israel's settlements will be evacuated.
Both nations know this. Does that knowledge make them happy? Certainly not. Will Israelis and Palestinians dance in the streets on the day this inevitable agreement is implemented? Certainly not. We are talking about a painful agreement, one that both sides will have to grit their teeth to accept. But the good news is that both nations already know this compromise will come, at the end of the road.
How much more time, how much more suffering, and how much more bloodletting are needed before the leaders of Israel and Palestine reach the point that both peoples have, with a heavy heart, already reached? Sunday's ceasefire, if it holds, may be the first glimmer of light at the end of the darkness.
(Israeli novelist Amos Oz is a founder of Peace Now) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... =palestine (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061129.COMIDE29/TPStory/?query=palestine)
Cheers ...