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Obama and Gaza: Exiting the Vortex of Violence
By Bernard Weiner (about the author) Page 2 of 3 page(s)
But the key to any positive movement would be, would have to be, the United States. Claiming the role of an "honest broker" won't be easy for the incoming Obama Administration, given the incendiary role played by the CheneyBush regime during the past eight years in Israel/Palestine and in the Greater Middle East, in effect pouring gasoline on the embers of despair. The moral power of the U.S. is at its nadir in the region.
Then, too, Obama, during the presidential campaign, seemed to indicate little more than unquestioning approval of Israeli policies, which would not bode well for assuming the "honest broker" role. But Obama was a candidate then, he will be president now and must put America's national-security interests first. Tamping down the tension and reasons for violence and extremist terrorism in the Middle East, with its spillover effect on terrorists angry at the U.S., certainly qualifies under that charge, and polls show that most Americans agree.
THE SITUATION LOOKS BLEAK
Regardless of the difficulties involved and the fact that Obama already has a lot on his incoming plate, he should make Middle East peace a top priority. If the Israel/Palestine conundrum can be solved, many other pieces will start falling into place throughout the region. That can only be good for Israel, the Arab world, the Greater Middle East, and the U.S. itself. (And bad for Al-Qaida and extremist Islamist fanatics.)
But right now, things don't look good for any kind of settlement of the dispute. Extremist mentalities on both sides continue to repeat the mental-illness loop mentioned in the first paragraph. The Israeli government thinks its bombing and invasion of Gaza will influence the local population to abandon the Hamas leadership voted into power in the most recent election. It won't. Hamas thinks if it continues sending rockets and suicide bombers into Israel, it will dissuade the Israelis from its over-the-top military assault on Hamas. It won't.
(As I write this, Israel, having run out of sites to attack from the air, is now on the ground with a massive ground force in Gaza, tasked to destroy even more of Hamas' infrastructure, tunnels, hierarchy, ability to govern. The Palestinians, remembering how Hizbullah in Lebanon bloodied the invading Israeli forces last year, may have some military surprises in store for the occupying Israeli troops, including suicide bombers in great numbers and even longer-range rockets to send deep into Israel. But Israel is the big kahuna in the region and its firepower, and willingness to use it against a vastly devastated foe, would seem to lead Israel to a short-term victory. However, as many occupying armies have discovered, it's easier to get into a country than it is to get out. And Israel, seen worldwide as a giant bully, is losing friends and supporters everywhere.)
WHAT IS REQUIRED
No, for any hope of a peaceful solution, it seems to me, a number of tumblers need to click into place:
1. A respected outside force must somehow arrange, encourage, coerce a cessation of hostilities, and probably set up some kind of peace-keeping buffer zone, using some palatable excuse: "for humanitarian reasons," or whatever. And the Palestinian Authority will have to be involved and in the room of any talks.
2. Hamas and the Israeli government must be willing to negotiate with The Other, maybe not face-to-face at first, but eventually. Such willingness to negotiate would signify an implicit recognition that the other side exists and must be talked with and listened-to. Israel says it will never negotiate with Hamas and doesn't recognize its authority over Gaza, despite its overwhelming popular electoral victory there. Israel will have to change its mind. Hamas says it will not negotiate with "Zionist criminals" since Israel has no legitimacy and should not exist. Hamas will have to alter that position.
If those two pre-requisites don't happen, there is no alternative but another generation of slaughter, endless recrimination, vengeance extracted forever. When enough blood has been spilled in the years that follow, perhaps more (probably younger) realists will emerge on both sides who are willing to face the truth of the matter: that neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis are going to disappear, that no amount of violence will accomplish that fantasy of disappearance, and that both sides are right and that both sides are wrong.
If that point ever can be reached (and it's in America's best interests to make sure that point arrives sooner rather than later), then comprehensive negotiations can take place that could eventuate in a just peace for both parties. Neither side would get everything they want, of course, but both would get enough of what they need.
THE OUTLINE FOR PEACE
It's been clear for decades what the outlines of a just peace might look like and what each side would have to do to get there:
1. Both sides would have to abandon their "I'm the true victim" and "you started it" loops. Each side has some history on its side, each side has behaved abominably, each side has some justice in its arguments. Both sides would have to stipulate, so to speak, to these recognitions and vow not to get bogged down in whose claim is the more righteous but stick to how to make living together in the same region workable and mutually beneficial.
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by Gale Reference Team
$9.95
Number of pages: 3
Publisher: Thomson Gale
by Gale Reference Team
$9.95
Number of pages: 2
Publisher: Thomson Gale
by Gale Reference Team
$9.95
Number of pages: 2
Publisher: Thomson Gale
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