Bibi Makes Peace

Each leader will tell his people that great concessions were won from the other side. That is not true. The same agreement was in place several months ago, and nothing, essentially, has changed.

The Arab extremists say, and will say, that the agreement is a result of U.S. pressure on the Palestinians. The Jewish extremists say, and will say, that the agreement is the result of U.S. pressure on the Israeli government. They are both right. Extremists will also say that their side gave up too much (or everything) and got too little (or nothing). They are both wrong.

We should not overestimate the achievement. Israel has not explicitly agreed to stop building in the territories, to stop house demolitions or to stop land expropriations. There is no agreement on the size of the third redeployment, only an agreement to disagree.

We should not underestimate the achievement, flawed as it is. The peace process will hopefully, reluctantly, move forward. In Israel, the bird of peace has passed from the keeping of Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres to that of Benjamin Netanyahu. It is ‘his baby’ now, and he must guard it with his life, as shown in the cartoon. For the first time, the overwhelming majority of the Israeli political system are now responsible and active participants in the peace process, and there will be no turning back. Already, Netanyahu was awarded the highest accolade of the settlers. The Yesha Council announced that the agreement was a betrayal. Upon reflection, they rescinded their "award," but the Ma’amatz group adopted it, and no doubt others will follow.

What Rabin did, he did in a statesman-like way and with the consciousness that he was making history, walking in the footsteps of Ben-Gurion. What Bibi did, he did in a penny-ante Likud sort of way, arguing to the last about details until an infuriated Bill Clinton threw down a sheaf of papers and said Bibi's behaviour was "unacceptable." But Bibi did it nonetheless.

The agreement is only a piece of paper. It dictates an elaborate series of inter-locking and interdependent steps. It could work smoothly only if there is good will. Manifestly, there is no good will. Whatever good will there was, has been undermined by the actions of both sides. The PNA’s slack and inconsistent implementation of security precautions, Bibi’s settlement policies, delays in redeployment and violent outbreaks such as the tunnel riots have not made for a congenial atmosphere. So it is likely that the elaborate series of steps will get bogged-down in mutual recriminations. In the absence of good will, the iron will of the United States will be required. But in the end, the redeployment will be implemented, and in the end, there must be a peace agreement. Anyone who doubts this does not understand the United States, and cannot read the map of history.

This is what Shimon Peres and Yizhak Rabin understood. Maybe Netanyahu was naive enough to believe sincerely that he would be able to bend the will of the United States, or that he could make peace and keep the dream of Greater Israel intact. Anyone who believed him can probably be sold the Brooklyn Bridge as well. It is not surprising that Likud people believed him. In an earlier election they swallowed, and sold to the Israeli public, a story about a perpetual motion machine that would produce energy from nothing, later derisively named ‘Hamtza’at Meridor’ - Meridor’s invention. In 1996, many people ‘bought’ Bibi’s invention, that it was possible to achieve peace without making concessions.

The redeployment agreement will have a few ‘side effects.’ Jonathan Pollard may finally be released from jail in the U.S. and allowed to return to Israel. Azam Azam, an Israeli who was jailed by Egypt for allegedly spying might also be released.

The most important ‘side effect’ of the agreement is that it will catalyze new elections in Israel. The extreme right feels betrayed by this agreement and has announced its intentions of withdrawing its support from Bibi, in favor of an as yet unnamed, and probably unknown, third party candidate. An increasing number of Israelis have now returned to reality, and understood that the way of Yizhak Rabin, the way of peace, was not only the best option, but the only option. The latest polls indicate that over 80% of the public supports the peace agreements. For the first time in months, Labor’s Ehud Barak is leading Netanyahu.