by Dr. Reuven Berko
With the beginning of
meetings in Washington, Mahmoud Abbas announced that in a future
Palestinian state "we would not see the presence of a single Israeli --
civilian or soldier -- on our lands."
It is possible that the
Palestinian Authority's president was referring to the land swap
formula the negotiations are predicated upon. Within such a framework,
Israel would retain large settlement blocs, and perhaps Abbas was
hinting that he would not accept Israeli enclaves inside a sovereign
Palestinian state. Surely the president, known for his Holocaust denial,
meant to say, "Palestinian area completely free of Jews."
Also this week, right
in the center of Israel at the junction along Highway 4 near Moshav Beit
Hanania at the foot of the Carmel mountain range, stood Sammi el-Ali,
the parliamentary assistant for MK Jamal Zahalka (National Democratic
Assembly), leading a protest rally from the village of Jisr az-Zarqa
while proudly waiving a Palestinian flag and demonstration signs.
Ali is a central and
vociferous activist in the committee trying to expropriate agricultural
lands from Beit Hanania for the Arba village's real estate ventures,
which he claims are the result of demographic growth. The expropriation
of this land -- which serves Ali and his people in their desire to raise
apartment blocs for the village's Arab residents -- will cost the tax
payer both in the loss of agricultural lands and in an investment of
over half a billion shekels to build bypass roads and bridges.
The situation is
Kafkaesque: While Israeli leaders are busy preparing a deal that will
provide two states for two peoples, Ali is protesting with the people of
his village just a few meters away from the land he claims for himself
and his friends. He is waging his battle in and against the Israeli
homefront. With Palestinian flags at his back, he defiantly flashes the
Arafat-like "V" sign (all of this is Palestine) toward the abashed gazes
of Beit Hanania's residents, who shamefully swallow their outrage. Ali
stands proud, in all his democratic glory, while voicing nationalistic
Palestinian slogans, including a few "for the Arab lands of the Negev."
Something strange is
happening in the Jewish state: Abbas is declaring a "territory free of
Jews" but is demanding the release of Arab-Israeli murderers, those who
have killed Jews in the name of the Palestinian problem but who were
never under any form of Palestinian jurisdiction. Arab citizens of
Israel, protesting with Palestinian flags in their hands, are demanding
state lands that never belonged to them within the 1967 borders [sic], and
Arab MKs are telling their youth to refrain from performing any type of
national service. On top of all this, Palestinian leaders continue to
demand a "return" of refugees, to Israel of all places, which they call a
state of Apartheid, oppression and occupation, and not to the
Palestinian state they are seeking to establish.
The strangest
phenomenon is that in Umm al-Fahm of all places, the hotbed of hatred
toward the Jews and the state, residents are rejecting any proposal that
includes "freeing themselves from the occupation" and transferring,
with their lands and property, to the jurisdiction of an independent
Palestinian state, the same one that will be "clean of Jews."
How pathetic it is to
recall that every time peace efforts have failed and it was apparent
that the Palestinians, despite the generous offers they received, were
neither ready "nor able" to reach an agreement and recognize the state
of Israel (fill in the blank here with the unmentionable). The shocked
and dumbstruck Left would gather itself and again blame the Israeli
negotiators for the failure.
A Palestinian friend
used an Arab allegory to tell me bluntly, "Just as you came empty
handed, so you will leave." In the jails for security prisoners, the
murderers know they will go free. Those who planned and carried out
terrorist attacks know in advance that if they are caught, they will be
released and will return to their activities. The refugees are certain
they will return to Palestine, in other words to Jaffa, Acre and Haifa.
Hamas, the "rejectionist organizations" and the refugees continue to
demand their "return" to Palestine.
According to my friend,
most Palestinians are of the mind that Abbas barely represents himself,
and any agreement he signs, much like the ancient Treaty of
Hudaybiyyah, will be broken and the conflict will resume -- only this
time under more optimal conditions.
As for Justice Minister Tzipi
Livni, my Palestinian friend left me with one more allegory, this time
about a woman who "wistfully returns to her old habits." Because Mrs.
Livni refuses to kill hope with the weapon of cynicism, we can only hope
that the paper the deal is signed on is soft and gentle.
Dr. Reuven Berko
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=5203
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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