February 20 2002
The Nightmare Must End
By Gershon Baskin

Another ten Israelis and ten Palestinians have lost their lives over the past two days because their leaders continue to act irresponsibly. The scandalous behavior of the leaders of Israel and Palestine continues to promise more violence, destruction and death to both peoples. Empty talk of security, peace, ending terror, jihad, and victory remain slogans who's sole purpose is intoxicate the listeners and to freeze the ability to think of many who are beginning to wake up and become conscious in the midst of this nightmare.

The two sides are working on the basis of a kind of logic that when detached from other considerations, could seem reasonable. The Israelis view the situation as a war against terrorism. Strengthened by the terror of Bin Laden, Israel views itself as part of the international coalition fighting terrorism on the front line. For Israeli policy makers, the Palestinian's war against Israel has no real political basis. Israeli leaders see the Palestinian battle against Israel as an existential war. In their minds, the Palestinians are determined to destroy Israel. From their view, Israel offered the Palestinians almost 100% of what they demanded, the Palestinians rejected the "generous" Israeli offers, didn't make their own offers in negotiations, launched the intifada, and therefore, it is clear to them (the Israelis) that they (the Palestinians) are committed to the total destruction of Israel. Israeli leaders contend that the Palestinians are powered by what they (the Palestinians) believe to be a military success against Israel in South Lebanon and have now adopted the strategies and tactics of Hizballah and are aiming to push Israel into the sea.

On the basis of this analysis, Israeli policy makers have come up with the following strategy:

• No negotiations under fire
• No concessions as a result of violence
• Targeting the Palestinian Authority first and terrorists second
• Applying pressure on the Palestinian population so that they will apply pressure on their leaders
• Placing a siege on Arafat directly in order to weaken his authority and prestige
• Targeted killings against those who are either directly involved in attacks against Israel or against those who inspire others to attack Israel
• And now after the recent Palestinian “successes” further military escalation.

The Palestinian thinking is based on the idea that Israel only understands the logic of power and not the power of logic. From their perspective, the Palestinian demands in negotiations were completely reasonable and should have been understood by Israel from the beginning of the peace process. The basic Palestinian position did not change from September 13, 1993 until today: the total evacuation by Israel of the territories conquered by Israel in 1967 – the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. From the EU document of Ambassador Morotinos summarizing the Taba talks, we know that the Palestinians were willing to compromise on their claimed sovereignty over Israeli neighborhoods/settlements in East Jerusalem within the municipal boundaries. The Palestinians were willing to make some territorial compromises and were willing to engage in territorial exchanges on an equitable basis. There were in principle agreements on security arrangements and even on the refugee issue there was Palestinian willingness to find a solution that would be acceptable to Israel. In their view, they acted responsibility and engaged in real negotiations.

Gershon Baskin is co-director of the Israel Palestine Committee for Research and Information

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