by Yossi Ben-Aharon
We recently learned
that shortly before he was deposed, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi
contacted al-Qaida and promised to help the terror group set up a base
of operations in Sinai. Had Morsi remained in power, the Israel-Egypt
border would have become an extension of the Gaza Strip and our peace
treaty with Egypt would have gone up in smoke.
What was about to
transpire in Egypt, what is taking place in Syria and Lebanon, and what
the Arab nations seem to be going through in general, must be used as a
cautionary tale when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian peace
negotiations. The Palestinian Authority assumes that any agreement or
treaty will have a dubious future, even if it is backed by American and
international assurances -- the value of which we are already familiar
with.
Let's assume that once a
sovereign "Palestine" is formed its government strikes a "friendship
treaty" with Iran or North Korea, and a few hundred "experts" visit it
to consult on issues such as training the "national guard" or the
formulation of an intelligence system; or that the Palestinian
government would be willing to take in a few thousand refugees and with
the U.N.'s assistance, houses them in refugee camps set up within view
of Jerusalem or Petach Tikva; or that the Shin Bet security agency
realizes that a few hundred jihadis have found their way to these
refugee camps and have set up terror cells; or that Palestine holds
general elections and Hamas wins and sets up a government in Ramallah.
There are endless plausible scenarios. What will Israel do? Invade
Palestine? Demand U.N. Security Council action? Ask the U.S. for help?
As a sovereign state,
Palestine would enjoy immunity under international law and by the grace
of the U.N. Any unilateral steps taken against it would be in gross
violation of international law and Israel would be faced with censures
and boycotts as a result, as well as Security Council sanctions. Anyone
who thinks that the Security Council would notice that it was the
Palestinian state which violated the peace deal and therefore should
also be sanctioned is sorely mistaken.
The U.S. believes that
every problem has a solution. That belief might suit reality as the
Americans see it, but that is not the case in our neck of the woods. We
have to deal with the fact that coexistence and true peace with a
sovereign Arab state in the land of Israel is a recipe for disaster.
As fate would have it,
both the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and late Prime Minister
Menachem Begin indicated -- each in his own time and words -- that the
only possible solution is an autonomous Palestinian regime under an
Israeli umbrella. The Palestinian Authority is already autonomous. All
that is lacking now is to formally set it as such, leaving it with
opportunities for improvement -- if and when its credibility, and with
it calm and security, proves solid.
Yossi Ben Aharon was director-general of the Prime Minister's Office under then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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