“There is no way to assess the full extent of the damage to the cities and towns […] while they remain under a tight siege, with patrols and snipers firing in the streets. But it is safe to say that the infrastructure of life itself and of any future Palestinian state — roads, schools, electricity pylons, water pipes, telephone lines — has been devastated. By what inhuman calculus did Israel’s army, using 50 tanks, 250 missile strikes a day, and dozens of F-16 sorties […] and call it a response to terrorist violence and the threat to Israel’s survival? There are reported to be hundreds buried in the rubble Israeli bulldozers are now trying to heap […].”
Seven years and an half years later, on October 16th, in Geneva, the UN Human Rights Council, preceded by a heated debate, backed a vote over the Goldstone report. The Goldstone report points out Israel’s use of disproportionate force and deliberately harming civilians during the December 2008-January 2009 conflict, which resulted in the killing of more than 1,400 Palestinians alone. According to the report, Israel’s operations, “were carefully planned in all their phases as a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise a civilian population”. As for Hamas militants, they are accused of indiscriminate rocket fire at Israeli civilians and possibly crimes against humanity. The report also demands that “unless the parties to the Gaza war investigate the allegations of war crimes within six months, the cases should be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague”. A court Israel has yet to recognize.
Unsurprisingly, both Israel and the USA rose their respective voice against the report arguing that the resolution threatened to “set back hopes for peace”. Here however, we should read and understand that Tel-Aviv is threatening to freeze the peace process, if any legal and coercive action was taken against Israel. But can the peace process be more frozen than it currently is? For both Israelis and Americans, the Goldstone report is biased against Israel, and removes the right of nations to defend themselves against terrorists. We shall see what would be the UN’s next decision in New York. And what would be Israel’s response to a possible ICC investigation. Meanwhile, let’s ponder further upon some aspects of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and positions.
On October 08, Lieberman, the current Israeli Foreign Minister may have sadly summarised the current political situation for the short to medium term. For the Foreign Minister “there are conflicts that have not been completely solved and people have learned to live with it, like Cyprus”. According to him, “people who thought Israel and the Palestinians could reach a deal “do not understand reality and are sowing illusions”. For the Israeli FM, core issues such as the final status of Jerusalem or El Qods and the right of return [for the Palestinians] and borders are too sensitive to find a solution.
We are now all accustomed with Lieberman’s diatribes. However, what is dramatic, is that Lieberman’s view is not isolated and is in fact a position shared by the entire foreign ministry cabinet. Indeed, in an internal document, we can read the following: “creating expectations that a comprehensive solution to the conflict can be reached might lead again to disappointment and frustration that will sour our relations with the US and Europe, and cause a violent reaction among the Palestinians”. Then, the policy measure pursues thus: “We can reach a interim agreement between the sides without solving the core issues such as Jerusalem, right of return and borders – that is the maximum which realistically could be attained and it’s very important to convince the US and Europe of this”. Would the Israelis had wanted to be more unequivocal, they would surely have not be able to.
So, what does this internal document really mean? In fact, the Israeli Foreign Ministry implies that since Israel has the political, economic and more importantly, the military power, it can continue to coerce and humiliate the Palestinian population, keeping full control over the Holy City (I have personally had to deal with Israeli soldiers and policemen prior entering the Old City on a Friday. And it is a real humiliating moment to experience, even for non-Palestinians). The hidden reality is also that Tel-Aviv, aware of its dominating position, is prepared to live with a ‘low’ intensified conflict on its [unofficial] borders. And the sad truth is that the Israeli leaders and military commanders would prefer to see this [controlled] conflict to remain rather than give back through a signed peace treaty what they have taken by force.
And indeed, how can we realistically invoke peace when people like Lieberman or Netanyahu openly deny the existence of Palestinians and Palestine?! Here is what is the current governing Israeli party, the Likud, stipulates in its Charter: “the Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state West of the Jordan river. The Palestinians can run their lives freely in the framework of self-rule, but not as an independent and sovereign state. Thus, for example, in matters of foreign affairs, security [water will undoubtedly remain under Israel’s control-my words], immigration and ecology, their activity shall be limited in accordance with imperatives of Israel’s existence, security and national needs”.
We have so often heard and read that Hamas refuses to recognize Israel and calls for the destruction of the Jewish State. Hence its boycott by the ‘international community’. However, Hamas representatives [too often labeled as terrorists] such as Haniyeh and Meshal have in numerous occasions stated that their movement was willing to accept Israel as a political entity on the 1967 borders. It is worth reminding those who refuse any talk with the Hamas that the late Arafat was also for a long time considered as a dangerous terrorist. Arafat was then invited at the White House with Rabbin…And very importantly, as Barat argues, “what Israel’s borders should Hamas recognize since no international borders have yet been defined by Israel itself”!
Furthermore, the Likud’s Charter stipulates that “the Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are the realization of Zionist values. Settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel… The Likud will continue to strengthen and develop these communities and will prevent their uprooting”. Here, we cannot deny the Likud party’s coherence. Indeed, let’s not forget that since the Oslo agreement of 1992, the settler population of the West bank for example, has trebled from 105,000 to 300,000 today.
As the late Edward Said told us:
“it needs to be remembered that Israel is the only state in the world [today] that has never had internationally declared borders; the only state not the state of its citizens but of the whole Jewish people; the only state where over 90 per cent of the land is held in trust for the exclusive use of the Jewish people. In l988 in Algiers, the PLO made the concession that the partition of historical Palestine into two states would be acceptable. This was reaffirmed on numerous occasions and certainly again in the Oslo documents.
But only the Palestinians explicitly recognised the notion of partition. Israel never has. In effect, then, Israel considers itself and the Jewish people to own the land of Israel in its entirety: there are land ownership laws in Israel itself guaranteeing this, but on the West Bank and Gaza the network of settlements, roads, and no concessions whatever on sovereign land rights to the Palestinians serve the same function.”
Edward Said is no more among us but Israel’s policy remains unchanged.
Once again, and at the risk of sounding pessimistic, is there any hope of peace in the foreseeable future? As we have seen, the recent Goldstone’s report blaming both Hamas and the Israeli government for the killing of civilians was rapidly followed by a row of shields coming from both Tel-Aviv and Washington accusing the report to be biased against Israel. But the [near? ] reality is that as long as the USA denies through Israel’s voice and policies, the right to exist for the Palestinians, there will neither be peace, nor an independent Palestinian State. Only when this unfair and biased position ceases, a genuine hope for peace could be envisaged.
It is again Edward Said who often argued and intellectually hammered that, Israel’s decisions, actions and denial is only possible because of the American green light. For the Palestinian-American professor “no other state on earth could have done what Israel has done with as much approbation and support as the US has given it. None has been more intransigent and destructive, less out of touch with its own realities, than Israel”. No one has so well summarised Israel’s politics than Edward Said.
Furthermore, for the late professor, the constant destructions provides stunning proof of what Israel’s politics is about: “the irreversible conquest of Palestinian land and society. The official line is that Israel defends itself by retaliating for the Palestinian attacks and suicide bombings that have undermined its security and even threatened its existence”. But has anyone in Washington, Berlin, Paris or London, genuinely questioned the legitimacy of the military attacks, retaliations and destructions carried out by Tel-Aviv? How can anyone rational blindly, unanimously and unilaterally condemn Palestinians throwing stones and artisanal rockets before Israel’s lethal weaponry?
Why does Israel still enjoy such an international impunity despite all its violations? Why can Israel freely continue to nibble the remaining Palestinian land? The ongoing construction of settlements in the Occupied Territories simply indicates that ‘the power of land’ in which Sharon believes (as well as others) is the first question to tackle. And six years after his tragic death, the words of Edward Said still resonate, more authoritative and truthful than ever.
It is too early to evaluate the real impact of the Goldstone report. It is nonetheless a micro victory for the Palestinian victims. It has taken years, not to say decades to hear a UN official openly say at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council that “a culture of impunity continues to prevail in the Occupied Territories and in Israel”. Yet, will this victory suffice for the Palestinians to finally embark towards an independent State? Palestinian must not be timid to hammer, hammer and hammer again the same message to the world. It is this strategy of communication that Palestinian must urgently adopt.
Meanwhile, Barack Obama, freshly Nobel Peace Prize awarded, will soon celebrate his one year at the White House. However, Obama has, soon after taking office, been very rapidly caught up with real politik. He and his special envoy, former Senator G. could then sense the difficulties they would face ahead. Despite his efforts, Mitchell has so far painfully obtained from Netanyahu a nine-month hiatus on the settlements only. Yet, colonisation of Jerusalem and the construction of new settlements in the Occupied Territories is pursued.
Israel’s image is whatever Israeli may say, tarnished today. The world is no more sympathizer as it used to be over its aggressive and humiliating policy towards the Palestinians. And even if Tel-Aviv still enjoys great support from the EU and the USA, there are signs that other States are increasingly getting impatient before the Israeli arrogance. Let’s remember that following the Gaza massacres, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan walked out furiously from the Davos forum leaving the Israeli President, Shimon Peres behind. Istanbul has also recently canceled a joint army exercise with Israel, which would have taken place in Turkey. Furthermore, Turkish TV channel TRT 1 has produced and broadcasted a TV soap showing Palestinian children massacred by Tsahal. Tel-Aviv has obviously not appreciated the soap and called the Turkish Foreign Ministry cabinet for some explanation.
The Goldstone report added to the latest Turkish decision indicate that Israel will not remain untouchable forever. Its violent, destructive and oppressive politics will not indefinitely be accepted or even tolerated. There is an urgent need to put a genuine pressure upon Israel. Israel cannot remain indefinitely unaccountable for the atrocities its leaders keep committing. As I said in a previous article, real friends also point out wrongdoings. America must act. Now! As my father used to tell me when I was a boy, ‘my son, your friend is someone who would make you cry. Not the one you laugh with’. As an adult, I now understand what my father meant. Israel is not above international laws. It is neither less no more accountable then other states. But today, its leaders are held responsible for all the atrocities and dispossession they have been carrying out for the past 60 years. Barack Obama must now bounce on the last UN vote in Geneva to put a genuine pressure on Tel-Aviv. This is an opportunity not to blindly continue backing up Tel-Aviv. As Ignacio Ramonet once wrote, “ étrangler les peoples est le propre des empires; condamner une telle iniquité, un attribut des hommes libres”.
Every peacemaking attempt has failed. And the fundamental problem has not been solved. To end any conflict or dispute with a fifty-fifty solution is a chimera. There is always a party losing something, one way or another. However, a win-win solution can occur with the respective parties satisfied with what they would gain. The thorny question in the Palestinian-Israel conflict is that in so far, Israel wants it all, leaving crumbs to the Palestinians. It is urgent to not only unanimously condemn the current Israeli government’s Charter and aggressive and barbarian politics but also give credit to Hamas, regardless its imperfection[s]. Hamas is an avoidable component of the Palestinian society and to pester it while signing a blank cheque to Tel-Aviv will never bring peace to the region. Peace has always be signed with one’s enemy! Until then, and as the BBC correspondent Jeremy Owen writes, “two peoples, both haunted by the past, want the same piece of land and cannot find a mutually acceptable way to share it, or split it. Until they do, there will not be peace here or anything like it”.
One last very important point: if religion, as often heard and argued, is the real hurdle to a final political solution in the region, we may bear in mind that religious Jewish are rapidly becoming the mainstream in Israel. According to a MERIP report, 32 percent of the Israeli population aged between 18 and 30 are either national-religious or ultra-Orthodox Jews. And the ultra-Orthodox Jews and national-religious will be a majority in thirty years’ time at most. It may then be too late to bring around the same negotiating table both hardliners, Israelis and Palestinians! More alarming, it is estimated that “40 percent of the personnel in combat units and the corps of junior army officers are religious”. Forecasting figures here is needless! Until then, we shall employ, as Amr Hamzawy from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace puts it, the term ‘talks’ rather than ‘peace process’. And donkeys of the Gaza zoo will continue to be dyed in black and white strips to put a smile on Gaza’s children.
Kel Tamashek
23 octobre 2009
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/11/world/mideast-turmoil-rubble-attacks-
turn-palestinian-plans-into-bent-metal-piles-dust.html?
scp=1&sq=MIDEAST%20TURMOIL:%20RUBBLE;%20Attacks%20Turn%20Palestinian%20
Plans%20Into%20Bent%20Metal%20and%20Piles%20of%20Dust&st=cse
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/582/op2.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/8296809.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8280181.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8261702.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8297812.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/8309494.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/8310754.stm
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14772
http://www.merip.org/mero/mero101209.html
