Preventive Peace
Dr. Bernard Sabella
Jerusalem
January 29, 2008
There are some who would like to read in the attempts at restarting the Palestinian-Israeli
peace process what is not there. Without peace, some would argue, all kinds
of fanatic and extremist groups would spring up in the Gaza Strip and the
West Bank. Accordingly Israel, the Palestinians, the USA and in fact the
whole world should do everything possible not to derail the train of peace
even though it has not yet started its engines. Preventive peace is not for
the cause of justice, the end of Israeli occupation and the exercise of the
Palestinians of their natural rights but specifically serves the purpose
to spite all those who terrorize the civilized and non-civilized world and
who use the Palestine-Israel conflict as pretext for their terrorism.
The reality tells another story. Israel is supposedly so secure and economically
at an advantageous position today that peace is not an urgent priority. It
follows that the USA is limited in the extent of influence that it can have
on Israel since the economic leverage is not anymore a factor. Forget also
about the influence of strategic military relations between Washington and
Tel Aviv because these are part of an untouchable sacred pact. So Washington,
in face of Israel’s advantageous situation and out of respect for sacred
relations, is left with only kind words to whisper in the ears of Israeli
politicians.
On the ground there are over 270,000 Israeli settlers in the 150+ illegal
settlements and outposts in the West Bank, not counting the 200,000 Israelis
who live in suburban settlements in and around Arab East Jerusalem. The military
establishment in Israel has become the foremost expert worldwide in control
mechanisms of civilian populations. This accomplishment, copied elsewhere,
is possible due to billions of US Dollars poured into concrete to make the
Separation Wall; hundreds of military checkpoints and roadblocks; a super
computer system that monitors Palestinians; their phones, car licenses, comings
and goings and other essential information deemed vital to Israel’s security.
Palestinians, even law abiding old grandmas, cannot move freely within the
West Bank and into Israel without a permit from the Israeli military authorities.
Such permits are difficult to get as they need lengthy and stringent security
checks. The Gaza Strip is under siege. The international outcry over Israeli
measures aimed at the strangulation of the Gaza Strip and its population
meets with promises to resume shipments of fuel and other essential commodities.
These promises, however, are subject to the political circumstances surrounding
the extent of launching of primitive Qassam rockets from Northern Gaza into
Southern Israel. The West Bank itself, the future setting of the promised
Palestinian State, together with the Gaza Strip, has become a Swiss-Cheese
like territory. Settlements, road networks for the exclusive use of Israelis
and settlers and checkpoints render physical contiguity between Palestinian
townships and villages impossible.
Viability of a Palestinian state and its economic pursuits, in spite of declarations
by politicians and Paris-like meetings cannot be secured under the present
conditions that have been created by Israel. Most Western politicians, even
some of the more liberal among them, always come up with apologetic excuses
for Israel. In effect, the proof for advancing peace is laid down at the
doors of Palestinian and Arab leaders. These should do everything possible
to convince the Israelis, especially the Israeli Jewish public, that their
desire for peace is genuine, comes from the heart and that they are willing
to go to great lengths to prove their sincerity. According to this vantage
point such show of Arab willingness to accept Israel would bolster the position
of these forces in Israel that want to advance peace with the Palestinians.
The Arab Peace Initiative, and the willingness of Arab and Muslim states
to exchange occupied territories for peace, is unacceptable because it refers
to the principles of international legitimacy. The creation of a Palestinian
state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital
that is in full control of its territory and exercises sovereignty is also
not acceptable. What would happen to the faits accomplis created by Israel
and would it need to withdraw from territories now populated by the rightist
settlers, if genuine and real peace were to come? How would Israel deal with
the rightist pressure groups that believe withdrawal from the West Bank is
high treason? Nowadays, no one serious about peace between the Palestinians
and Israel ought to mention UN Resolutions and other international accords,
such as the Fourth Geneva Convention. But on the other hand, the Road Map
that is promised to move us towards a workable peace has been dissected,
trisected, quadrisected by the harsh facts and realities that Israel continues
to create in the occupied Palestinian Territories. According to the overwhelming
majority of Palestinians, there is neither map nor road in the near future
ahead.
Something needs to give other than the simplistic and naïve arguments
of “preventive peace.” According to these arguments you make peace in order
to avert the evil Qaeda and other extremist groups from taking over. The
argument should be reversed: you make peace because it is in the vital interest
of all to make peace: the Palestinians have been denied justice for long.
They are daily subjected to horrendous human rights infractions; they remain
occupied and the practices of occupation strangle them altogether. Their
political rights trampled, their movement restricted, their economy in shambles
and their society suffering all kinds of consequences. The Israeli-occupation
induced conditions that make for the poverty of Palestinians and their society
and for the denial of their basic political and other rights are a formula
for an Israel that will not be able to master, in the long run, morality,
ethics or even self defense and security as justifications.