Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of Israel (2006-2009)
While international attention has shifted to the war
in Syria, little media focus is given to the recent successful initiative at
Blair House in Washington D.C. between Secretary of State John Kerry and
Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani on behalf of Arab
League states. Sheikh Hamad agreed with Secretary Kerry to endorse the American-backed proposal for a two-state solution that partitions Israel in order to
create a new Palestinian state. As Arab state representatives retreated from
their prior demands that Israel return to its pre-1967 borders, the Arab League
initiative represents progress toward a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
Currently, Israelis and Palestinians live interspersed
together within non-contiguous borders. However,
the problem with partition is that it divides the population based upon ethnic,
racial, religious, or linguistic characteristics. Partition actions use types
of profiling to assign people to states based upon their human characteristics.
The use of profiling contradicts human rights, because equal treatment requires
that people be recognized as individuals irrespective of their ethnic, racial
or religious identity. So, Israelis and
Palestinians must reject obnoxious forms of human profiling should they agree
on a partition plan. This poses a
particular challenge for Israel, because it is the homeland of the Jewish
peoples who are themselves a persecuted religious group.
International human rights treaties offer states alternatives
to partition. Instead, human rights conventions offer types of integration that protect the existence
and identity of national linguistic, ethnic, and religious groups. Human rights distinguish integration from assimilation, in which a group's ethnic characteristics, including
language, education, culture, and religion are melted away in the so-called melting-pot to blend with that of
the majority. Instead, integration guarantees autonomy (self-government) by
permitting minorities to perpetuate their unique characteristics. Since Israelis
and Palestinians live interspersed, they are already compelled to cooperate in
areas of mutual responsibility, such as border security, migration,
right-of-return, dual-citizenship, public services, trade, and employment.
Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights recommends standards to protect the existence and identity
of minority groups that include forms of self-governance. Also, increasing numbers of state constitutions
recognize self-government for domestic minority groups, with some guaranteeing
the right to secession. Examples of this can be found in Ethiopia, Fiji, Papua
New Guinea, the Philippines, and Spain.
These approaches offer a continuum of remedies short
of statehood. For example, Canada
established the Nunavut territory that protects the Inuit peoples (former
Eskimos). It also initiated a prestigious
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Affairs to study the history of Aboriginal
problems and recommend actions to correct injustices. Because each case is
different, such studies about the plight of minorities and indigenous groups are
critical, as they help states choose the appropriate remedial policies. The Royal
Commission recommended the creation of a House of First Peoples as a branch of
the Canadian Parliament, which would provide equal representation for Aboriginals. This is an
example of Best Practices that could also assist the Palestinians.
Other states are implementing different forms of
autonomy (self-government) to support aspiring nations. This is because many
groups decide to live autonomously within their host state. A few examples are Great
Britain's Westminster Parliament devolution schemes for Wales, Scotland and
Northern Ireland; Finland's Accession Treaty for the Swedish populated Aland
Islands; the Nordic Council of Ministers' initiative on Sami autonomy; and the Italy
and Austria treaty granting autonomy to Trentino-South Tryrol.
So far, Israelis have taken actions that are contrary
to partition. For
instance, Israel's ruling Likud party promotes Israeli settlement on Palestinian
populated territories--namely, the West Bank. However, Israeli settlement
policies have the unintended consequence of assimilating Palestinians into the Israeli population. Some Israelis describe
their goal as Eretz Yisrael, meaning greater Israel. These Israelis claim a biblical right to annex
the West Bank (Judea & Samaria). Israeli territorial expansion has been so
successful that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself warned about
Israel's demographic time bomb--the inevitability of an eventual Palestinian
majority in Israel. Several demographic studies by The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, as well as the Arab
Strategic Report, point to high Palestinian birth rates and a projected Palestinian majority (2025-2048).
Surprisingly, similar views are held by
Palestinians themselves. Recent polling conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and
Survey Research found that, although 55% of Palestinians polled support a
two-state solution, 44% of them oppose partition. However, an earlier poll of Palestinian West
Bank and Gaza residents conducted by Stanley Greenberg of Greenberg Quinlan
Rosner Research, along with the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, revealed
that, by a two-thirds majority, most Palestinians want only to
start with a two-state solution, and then move to a single Palestinian state. So, there remains substantial support among
both Israelis and Palestinians for maintaining a unitary state, albeit one
with different national characteristics.
Palestinian rights to self-determination are statu nascendi, meaning they apply only at the
beginning of the process leading to statehood.
However, self-determination rights are not synonymous with statehood. Instead,
the final decision remains with the right-holder to decide whether to live autonomously
within the host-state, or as an independent state.
A human rights-based approach could assist both Israel
and the Palestinians. This is because
human rights contain reciprocal responsibilities against irredentism, as well
as a commitment to state unity. Also, human rights do not exclude a partition of
Israel. Instead, they can help to facilitate Palestinian self-determination
through to statehood, but in a manner that comports with other important rights,
such as the rule of non-discrimination. In fact, human rights merely require that
groups treat each other with what legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin termed "equal
concern and respect."
