The ultimate responsiblity

PV Vivekanand

SIX young Palestinians were laid to rest on Saturday, the latest victims of the crisis in Palestine. The bullets that killed them might have been fired by Palestinian policemen, but the ultimate responsibility for the deaths of the six rests with Israel. It was Israeli pressure on the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat that was behind the clashes between PNA policemen and Hamas activists that killed the six.
Indeed, Israel is responsibile for the killings of the more than the 1,000 who died in the Palestinian Intifada in the last 14 months as well as for the hundreds of thousands of others killed since 1948 when the Jewish state was created. It was Israel's expansionist designs that sparked the crisis in the Middle East and continue to do so today. Its refusal to accept the legitimate territorial and political rights of the Palestinian people and its brutal oppression of the Palestinians living under its occupation since 1967 have bred so much of frustration and fury that Israel would not be able contain despite its military might.
But the Palestinians are also willing to take another chance at peace.
Signs emerged on Saturday of a gradual shift in mood against armed resistance against the Israelis, with Islamic Jihad members deliberately staying away from carrying weapons at the funeral of the six in the Gaza Strip one day after Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, announced the suspension of suicide attacks against Israelis in Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would not be a happy man at all. After all, things are going wrong for him.
Arafat's call for a halt to attacks against Israel and the implicit adherence to the call by Hamas and apparently by Islamic Jihad are slowly pulling the rug from under Sharon's argument against resuming peace negotiations. The hawkish former general known for his hatred for the Palestinians now finds himself cornered. And that is a dangerous situation since Sharon has a record of breaking out of corners with sheer military brutality. That definitely implies provoking the Palestinians into actions that he could call violations of the truce called by Arafat and apply more pressure and continue to defy international calls for a calm atmosphere conducive to peace.
We would have hoped that Washington recognised the seriousness that the Palestinians showed in taking up Arafat's call. They are fed up of strife and bloodshed, but that would not mean that they are willing to surrender their rights. They yearn for life in freedom and dignity but not on Israel's terms.
Washington's demand that Arafat make sure that the Palestinian resistance groups be dismantled completely so that they would not be able to resume armed resistance is meaningless with Israeli assurances guaranteed by the US that the basis for a peace agreement would be the legitimate Palestinian rights. It is not enough for the US to say that it has not abandoned its vision of a Palestinian state. It has to spell out clearly the shape of the state that it envisions. The Palestinians are not demanding the elimination of Israel; they have accepted the reality of Israel's existence. They are seeking the rights granted to them under international law and UN resolutions. But the US is stopping short of endorsing those rights by declaring that it is up to Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate peace.
Isn't it clear that the Palestinians are the weaker party in the negotiations under the current geopolitical realities of the region? But they have international legitimacy behind them and all they are demanding is the enforcement of that legitimacy in their land where they are unable to bring about a military solution. Nor would Israel be able to impose a military solution.
Instead of ensuring that international legitimacy is the foundation for peace, the US is imposing conditions on the Palestinians that would deprive them of their option to wage armed resistance to regain the legitimate rights from an occupier who has shown every sign of seeking impose own terms for "peace."
The inter-Palestinian clashes since Wednesday were most unfortunate. They were definitely not in the interests of Palestinian unity. The bright side that emerged on Saturday was the declaration by Islamic Jihad that it would not undertake anything that would undermine Palestinian unity. It shows a clear understanding of the Israeli game to pit Palestinians against each other in the name of "security" for Israelis. Thankfully, that understanding came before more Palestinian lives were lost.
But the Palestinian sacrifices would amount to nought if Israel does not recognise the immense effort and willpower that the Palestinians have to undertake to suspend armed resistance despite Israeli provocations. The Palestinian lives that were lost would have been lost for nothing if Israel continues to insist that Arafat is not doing enough to check armed resistance and demand more from the Palestinian National Authority. The West Bank and Gaza are staying on the brink of another explosion, and Israel would be playing with fire if it persisted on its intrasigence and arrogance.
Let Sharon not forget that it is much easier for Hamas and other groups to reverse the decision to suspend suicide attacks than maintaining it against provocations. And this time around, if Sharon does not move to change his mindset, then he could expect every Palestinian to be a walking human bomb ready to explode itself against Israeli targets until Sharon and company realises the futility of relying of military power as the answer to all of Israel's problems.