by Zalman Shoval
Just as former U.S. President Bill
Clinton exposed the true face of Yasser Arafat at Camp David, we must thank
Secretary of State John Kerry for exposing Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas' rejectionist colors. Even though the American spokespersons have
since gone back to waxing about "the negative steps taken by both sides," their
initial reaction to the diplomatic crisis left no doubt that they too thought
the crux of the responsibility fell on the Palestinians.
In the meantime Kerry has declared
"reality check time," or in other words that the inventory of facts and varying
positions must be accounted for, and thankfully so, because any real examination
will show that the Palestinians booby-trapped the process from the start and
never, not for a moment, abandoned their original plan to ultimately turn to the
United Nations.
When the late Israel Defense Forces
Chief of Staff Dan Shomron was asked his opinion of the Palestinian leadership,
he answered simply that it comprised "a bunch of terrorists." Indeed, it is
sometimes difficult to shed the impression that despite Abbas' tactical and
utilitarian conclusion that the weapon of terrorism is not conducive to the
Palestinian cause, it seems hard for him and his cohort to discard the terrorist
mentality, as clearly evidenced by their latest moves.
Prior to the first stage of the
negotiations the Palestinians demanded, and received, the release of terrorists,
but toward the end of the talks they injected Marwan Barghouti, Ahmad Saadat and
Israeli Arab terrorists into the equation, all without having any intention of
forgoing the planned U.N. gambit.
The current crisis is not a surprise.
While Kerry's honest intentions need not be questioned, perhaps he and his
advisers should have been more cognizant, based on the facts from the past, of
the prearranged Palestinian script. We can also wonder what the basis was for
their belief they would succeed, this time around, to overcome the fundamental
Palestinian negativism toward any process or arrangement obligating them to
concessions and compromises on the conflict's core issues.
By the way, and with all due remorse
and anger that Jonathan Pollard is still languishing in prison, it is perhaps
best that the problematic deal to secure his release fell through. We must still
continue pressing for his release based on the basic principles of elementary
humane justice, but not in exchange for releasing murderers and eroding the rule
of law in Israel.
We should assume that the Americans,
despite the reports, will not withdraw from the Israeli-Palestinian issue. It is
possible they will be less active in the intermediate future, but after a short
while it is safe to envision that regional and domestic political interests,
including the administration's prestige, will bring them back with renewed
vigor. There are those who believe that Washington must propose its own peace
formulas, but considering past experience it is doubtful they will seek to enter
a minefield without any assurances of escaping unscathed.
A possible alternate route could have been a
combined regional arrangement to also address the Palestinian issue, but the
distrust accrued by Washington's traditional regional allies toward it
diminishes the chances of such a scenario. It is possible, of course, that
Washington, too, will now come to the conclusion that the time is not ripe for a
final status agreement solving all the problems and divisions, therefore making
it preferable to push for intermediate or partial arrangements (which Israel,
too, will not necessarily reject outright). While it is indeed impossible to
force the Palestinians, or at least their leaders, to desire peace, but is
possible, maybe, to make them understand that time is not on their
side.
Zalman Shoval
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=8001
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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