Sunday, August 31, 2003

Ross' fresh views on Mideast

PV Vivekanand

THE ONLY way to salvage the wrecked Middle East peace process and restore the implementation of the international "roadmap" for peace could a visit to the occupied territories by Arab foreign ministers for talks with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers, says Dennis Ross, who tried his hand at mediating the Israeli-Palestinian crisis for several years.
Prima facie it is a non-starter since a delegation representing the Arab World visiting the Israeli-occupied territories, let alone meeting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, would imply Arab recogniton of the state of Israel. Not many Arab states are keen on doing that until Israel signs a peace accord that accepts and recognises a state of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza.
However, the Ross proposal is interesting if only because it breaks new ground against the vicious cycle of violence raging in Palestine, with both sides saying it is impossible to return to diplomacy without basic changes in mindsets.
An overall review of the situation and the worsening mistrust between the two sides as well as the fundamental differences in their approaches clearly indicates that the peace process is beyond salvation with dramatic and emphatic moves from the two sides.
Ross, who served as special co-ordinator for the Middle East in the Clinton administration, wrote in the Washington Post this week that while there was a ceasefire since June announced by militant Palestinian groups, "the progress was always more illusionary than real... (and)... but there was not a peace process."
Ross took note of the complexities of the equation and that the Palestinians were hoping calm would produce Israeli pullbacks and the Israelis reluctant to pull back far
without some sign that groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad would be controlled.
Both did not happen and now Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas faces the double challenge of having to pacify the Israelis and successfully resist Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's efforts to undermine him.
"The stakes are high," wrote Ross, who now heads a private thinktank in Washington. "Should Mahmoud Abbas resign there would be no Palestinian partner -- no one to assume responsibilities, no one to build a state based on reform and the
rule of law, and no one with whom to negotiate. Yasser Arafat would be happy, believing he would recoup his position. But his constant efforts to undermine Mahmoud Abbas and block any efforts to confront those who literally blew up the cease-fire have
cemented his status as a revolutionary whose only cause is his personal rule, not the well-being of Palestinians."
Writing under the title "Arab leaders must act," Ross conceded that Israel's policy of targeted killing of Palestinian resistance activists was also undermining Abbas.
"For Abbas to survive he will have to produce, and that is harder today than it was yesterday and will be even harder tomorrow than it is today," he said. "Israeli targeted killings signal that the Israelis will act if the Palestinians do not, and yet they also create
such anger among Palestinians that Abbas and his security chief find it more difficult to crack down on Hamas and Islamic Jihad — even in Gaza, where they have the means to do so."
The solution to the problem could lie with the Arabs, he wrote.
"It is time for Arab leaders to assume their responsibility. Slogans are not sufficient. Prime Minister Abbas needs the cover of Arab legitimacy to confront Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. The Israelis need to see some dramatic actions by Palestinians and Arab leaders alike to give them a reason to pause and give the Palestinians the chance to take convincing steps on security.
"To that end, Arab leaders need to cross a threshold: Send a delegation of Arab foreign ministers -- to include Saud al Faisal -- to Jerusalem and Ramallah. They must meet with Prime Ministers Sharon and Abbas. While calling on the Israelis to fulfill their
parts of the road map -- cease military operations, lift checkpoints, pull back from Palestinian cities, freeze settlement activity -- they must make clear that Hamas and Islamic Jihad violated the ceasefire and threatened the Palestinian cause.
"The actions of these organisations can no longer be tolerated, and the
Palestinian Authority will have the active support and material assistance of Arab leaders in doing what the road map requires of the Palestinians -- namely, the effective targeting of terrorist groups, collection of illegal weapons, and dismantling of terrorist capability and infrastructure. There is no other way; the Arab call to action must be presented as the only way to achieve Palestinian interests."