Good for the Jews?

Much more ominous and disappointing are the declared intentions and outlook of PM Netanyahu regarding the final peace settlement. Last week he announced proudly that he would not continue on the road started by Yitzhak Rabin. We can understand what he meant by that from an interview conducted last night on Israel TV Channel 2, by Ilana Dayan. Bibi is supposed to be making peace with the Palestinians, but his remarks were obviously intended for his disappointed supporters, who have lost the dream of Greater Israel. He made it clear that the government would oppose any major territorial concessions, nothing new in itself. He also made it clear that the Israeli government would prevent the formation of a contiguous area for the Palestinians in the West Bank, for security reasons. He did not explain how having to police the checkpoints between Palestinian areas would contribute to Israeli security.

According to PM Netanyahu, Palestinians enjoy complete self-rule within the areas governed by the PNA. That may be true, though we must remember that these autonomous areas are quite small, and that their water supply and other necessities are at the mercy of the Israeli government. Bibi neglected to mention what happens to Palestinians when they go between the tiny autonomous areas, as they must in order to work, meet relatives, get vital medical attention and attend to the other business of normal folk. Every checkpost can be another source of humiliation and delay - and in a few cases, death. Guarding those checkposts is hazardous and unpleasant duty for Israeli soldiers and a drain on the national defense budget.

Bibi said he intends for this checkerboard of autonomous reservations to be the basis for a final settlement. Not a single settlement will be moved. No solution for the refugees, no compromise in Jerusalem. It could be, as some claim, that that was the intention of the Labor government as well, though the Beilin-Abu-Mazen agreement was quite different. It should be evident however, that this is not the basis for peace, no matter who advocated it. Even if the U.S. government can force such a solution on the PNA, it is doubtful that Palestinians would acquiesce in it for long. It is also doubtful that peace treaties with our neighbors could withstand the strain of a frontal Israeli-Palestinian confrontation. Defense Minister Mordechai admitted that this new map would leave Israel and Israeli citizens in the West Bank, more vulnerable than ever to terror, if there is no peace. Manifestly, since there can be no peace under such a solution, we are inviting disaster.

The long term result will be that Israel will be forced reluctantly to do the inevitable, and return the territories it has been occupying. Just as the Palestinians lost much by intransigence in the past, so now we shall become the Palestinians. The Oslo peace process was a chance to return the occupied territories in return for peace, as Israel has offered to do since 1967. But we are losing the chance. If we insist on a settlement dictated only by what we can get by force, in the long run we shall lose all. We will give up the territories in the face of a renewed intifadeh, and years more of struggle and bitterness and we shall do so in return for nothing except humiliation. We will have lost the territories, which were hostages for peace, and will have gained nothing except the enmity of our neighbors and perhaps the entire world. So we shall be back at the 1967 borders, with no recognition of Israel’s right to exist, no peace, and a much worse international position than we had in 1967.