Window for peace could become a door

Feb.18, 2008


Window for peace could become a door


THE window of "opportunity" for peace is shrinking. This was the thrust of the message that Israeli President Shimon Peres had for French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner when the two met on Sunday.
Peres also observed that people are losing faith in peace and that in the Middle East, "everybody talks, but nobody does anything." Perhaps Israel's way of doing something is reflected in its military operations that are killing scores of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
More importantly in this context, according to Peres, "only a fundamental change at the ground level, thousands of new workplaces and a raise in the quality of life in the West Bank will strengthen (Palestinian) President Mahmoud Abbas and the moderate peace camp."
Well, Peres sidestepped the reality that it also takes a "fundamental change at the ground level" among Israelis to accept that they are occupying Palestinian territories and they should not hope to live there for ever while the Palestinian problem disappears into history. That is no a realistic expectation and Israeli leaders like Peres should be preparing their people to accept the inevitability of having to relinquish the territories that Israel occupied in the 1967 war. Compromises would have to be made on both sides without infringing on the legitimate rights of all sides based on international law and conventions and mandatory resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council.
True, groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad are insisting on hard-line positions. Hamas is ready to accept only a long-term truce with Israel and not a lasting peace agreement that addresses the root conflict. That is a maximalist position and no one truly believes such a truce agreement is possible.
Of course, the hard-line position helps Israel to avoid dealing with the real issues related to Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and borders between a Palestinian entity and the Jewish state.
Israel also hopes that it could use the interim period before it would have to be really serious in peace negotiations to eliminate as many Palestinian resistance leaders as possible so that it would be in a better position to corner "the moderate peace camp" and force down the Israeli version of peace down the Palestinian throat.
A veteran politician like Peres should have been talking with Kouchner about the pressing need to remove reasons for frustration among the Palestinians. This should start with the removal of Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank and lifting of travel restrictions on the Palestinians living there. Israel should also not place hurdles in the way of international funds being spent in order to improve the daily life of the Palestinians in terms of health, education, employment and business opportunities.
Many other actions have to follow these moves, but let Peres force his own political establishment to stop talking about wasted opportunities for peace and start doing what it takes for the Palestinians to feel that they stand to lose something in their life. The rest of the puzzle will fall in place with little nudging, but Israel has to stop asking others to act and start acting on its own. Then the widow of opportunity for peace would become a door without a lock.