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Opportunity in the wake of Arafat's Death |
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by haaretz via gehrig
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09 Nov 2004
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Co-author of the People's Voice peace initiative: "The Statement of Principles that I drew up with Prof. Sari Nusseibeh, my partner in the People's Voice initiative, is one example. The fact that it has garnered 400,000 signatories - 150,000 Palestinians and 250,000 Israelis - shows that both sides are ripe for compromise. " |
Carpe diem
By Ami Ayalon
Don't expect too many tears on the streets of the West Bank and Gaza when Yasser Arafat dies. If the two weeks during which Arafat succumbed to his illness proved anything, it is that for most Palestinians, losing their "national father" elicits intense worry for their future rather than mourning for an invalid figurehead.
Arafat's diplomatic failings, political knavery and affinity for menace will not be missed. But no one should underestimate his importance in embodying a fractious Palestinian collective identity over the past 40 years. When he goes, so will that unifying personal presence, and chaos may follow. Palestinians know and fear that. Israel should too.
For if the Palestinian Authority descends into a free-for-all between PLO and Fatah loyalists, between the Tunis old guard and the young bloods who made their way up through the ranks, pragmatism will end, and with it, all hope of peace.
Such anarchy would seem inevitable. As Shin Bet chief, I was amazed at the degree of influence local Palestinian police forces had on policymaking. It then became clear that this political power was simply a function of the arsenals the police had amassed, in anticipation of Palestinian infighting in the post-Arafat era. Such is the depth of fear on the Palestinian street.
And this fear draws Islamic extremists, with their dogma of destruction. Hamas, which has been sluicing through Palestinian hearts during the past four years of bloodshed, is eager to fill the void left in Arafat's wake. Unless Israel wants to find itself flanked by Hamas-land, it must act now. It is up to us to bolster the Palestinian pragmatists, by setting up a new regional dynamic around which they can rally.
Israel needs to restore real diplomatic optimism into the Palestinian discourse. The Palestinians need a framework for a final peace accord that is as agreeable to them as it is to the Israeli public. The Statement of Principles that I drew up with Prof. Sari Nusseibeh, my partner in the People's Voice initiative, is one example. The fact that it has garnered 400,000 signatories - 150,000 Palestinians and 250,000 Israelis - shows that both sides are ripe for compromise. If put on the table by our government in Jerusalem, such a blueprint would infinitely improve the standing of Palestinian moderates in their succession struggle, not to mention Israeli-Palestinian relations against the backdrop of the "disengagement plan" and Israel's relations with the international community.
On the Palestinian side, a clear and committed coexistence plan would force all the aspiring Arafat successors to take a stand. Here moderates would prevail, as the extremists' platform of revenge and violence pales in comparison to the vision of respectable Palestinian statehood.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon should make it clear that he recognizes this Palestinian right to statehood, and that he will negotiate with any successor to Arafat who shows equal recognition of Israel. This would further undercut those Palestinian extremists who thrive on their compatriots' conviction that Sharon will always prefer tanks and troops over talks. Arafat's death will put an end to the image of Palestinian intransigence cemented at Camp David in 2000. It follows that peace negotiations must resume where they left off there, with reconciliation taking the place of recrimination.
To that end, the Sharon disengagement plan should be made the first step of a new diplomatic process. Certainly, disengagement should be carried out independent of developments on the Palestinian side. But it should not be so unilateral as to preclude its coordination with a future, moderate Palestinian leadership.
If Israel and the Palestinians find common ground, disengagement could lead to coexistence, thus neutralizing the claims of Sharon's detractors that the planned withdrawals from the Gaza Strip and West Bank simply eternalize the conflict. And once Israeli political opposition is quelled, the international community will surely follow. By reaching out to the Palestinians in a spirit of post-Arafat rapprochement, Israel will win much-needed plaudits in Washington, London, Brussels and beyond. In turn, the world will back disengagement and offer peacemaking guarantees that will seal the Palestinian pragmatists' place in leading their people.
Arafat's death may be good riddance, but Israel will gain nothing from abandoning the Palestinians to the bloody aftermath. This is a real opportunity to help forge a future, neighborly Palestine and so save the Zionist dream of a democratic Jewish homeland.
© 2004, Haaretz
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