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PEACE Poll -
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שער רשת המזרח התיכון לדו-קיום
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- ابة شبكة الشّرق الأوسط بالعربيّة
New Section - Background documents
Wye Not?
Ami Isseroff
Israel
Compared to just two months ago, MidEast peace watchers have much reason to give thanks. The threat of an imminent
clash between Israel and unilaterally declared Palestinian state has been avoided. Israel’s PM Ehud Barak has gone to
the U.S. and elsewhere, reiterating the commitment of the government to peace. There are good signs in small, concrete
things too. No more new settlements, and it seems, no more house demolitions.
There is talk of peace with the Palestinians, with the Syrians and the Lebanese. Whenever the different peace events
were not upstaged by Kennedy family tragedies in the US or bizarre murders in Israel, we could hear Ehud Barak telling
someone he was going to try to make peace.
However, not much peace has been made, it seems. The centerpiece of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, which
should have been jump-started the day Barak took office, is Barak’s insistence that part of the implementation of the
Wye Plantation accords should be postponed and integrated with the final settlement. Barak has repeated this proposal
often, to the Israeli public, to Yasser Arafat, to Bill Clinton and to visiting diplomats. He is due to go to Egypt
tomorrow and repeat it to Hosni Mubarrak. He has not, however, explained in public why it is a good idea or what is at
stake.
According to pundits, the reasoning is that the second stage of the redeployment, in which about 7% of the land is to
be turned over to Palestinian jurisdiction in Area A, will leave some Israeli settlements stranded in the midst of
Palestinian territory. If the settlements remain - at least temporarily, then they will be vulnerable. If the
settlements are vulnerable to terrorist attacks, then the peace process will be vulnerable too, and it will be difficult
to go through with the final negotiations. They will also require a large investment in security measures, which Barak
is unwilling to make in view of the economic shambles inherited from the previous government. The alternative, removal
of settlements before a final settlement, is non-feasible given the composition of Barak’s government.
Barak and Foreign Minister Levi met Chairman Arafat and senior Palestinian negotiators last night and put his case to
them. The two sides agreed to disagree. The Palestinians will give their answer in two weeks, just before the arrival of
Secretary of State Albright on August 13.
Meanwhile, there is no visible progress on any of the other issues left over from the stalled Wye accords, and
certainly no progress on final status issues: water, borders, free passage, economics, freeing of prisoners, arms
control in the PNA and Jerusalem. Meanwhile also, settlers are continuing to build and expand tiny settlements all over
northern Samaria, hoping that they will be too large to dismantle by the time the final status talks begin. And
meanwhile, the bit of hope that came with the change in government is being gradually dissipated. Another two weeks,
another month or perhaps more will be wasted, and in this process, to stand still is to go backwards, to sow the seeds
of distrust and encourage the naysayers. It is strange, but it seems that in all of the meetings and press conferences
and planning, nobody thought of asking some obvious questions. If Barak cannot evacuate a few settlements now, how will
he be able to evacuate even more settlements, as will surely be required, for the final settlement? If the Palestinians
cannot be trusted to keep order now, how can they be trusted to keep order after the final settlement? The most obvious
question nobody is asking: "Why not start with implementation of the second phase of the Wye redeployments, that will
give the Palestinians control over another 6% of the land, and meanwhile begin negotiating the other issues, including
the second phase of Wye. Indeed, Wye not?
MidEast Web
A new project to use the Web and Internet to build a better
Middle East has been born of PEACE and the contributions of many others. See
http://www.mideastweb.org to learn more, and to find out how you can help. Thank you, Shukran, Todah.
What is PEACE?
PEACE is a Mid - East Dialog Group commited to peace and neighborly relations.We have no
official political opinions. PEACE was started by Ameen Hannoun, a Jordanian/Palestinian and Ami Isseroff, an Israeli.
You are welcome to join, and to contribute ariticles and ideas for promoting peace and dialog.
More about PEACE.
Politics are no Panacea [June 6]
- a different attitude will be needed to bring peace to the Middle East. More
Life after Bibi [May 22] -
A program for peace More
An outsider looks at the Palestinian - Israeli Conflict - Anyone interested in creative
solutions to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict must read this essay by Matthew Hogan
PEACEMAKING VIA NON-IDEOLOGY or CONFESSIONS OF A PRO-ISRAEL
ANTI-ZIONIST.
New - The PEACE Deir Yassin
Memorial Web site - history of a massacre that some people try to deny - has been updated. The update includes an
English translation of the original Red Cross report
available for the first time, and reflections on how the issue has been
exploited and misunderstood by both sides. |
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