by Prof. Efraim Inbar
The Palestinian
Authority decided unilaterally to apply for membership to 15 U.N.
agencies in order to demonstrate its uneasiness about the lack of
progress with the American-sponsored peace negotiations and to buttress
its claims to statehood. While this amounts also to a violation of its
promise to refrain from going to the U.N. as long as U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry continues his diplomatic efforts, the PA expressed its
willingness to continue the negotiating process, but expects to get a
better deal than the one Kerry worked on.
Several lessons should
be drawn from recent events. Palestinian behavior is obviously an
affront to the U.S. Even the weak PA, headed by a powerless and hardly
legitimate leader, Mahmoud Abbas, has the temerity to challenge the U.S.
As we know this type of behavior has happened elsewhere on the globe,
and is an additional indication of the poor international standing of
the U.S. under President Barack Obama.
The recent events in
the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic track reinforce a lesson many
stubbornly refuse to learn -- reaching a comprehensive agreement between
Israel and the Palestinians has remained an elusive goal. The gap in
the positions of the two sides is too large to bridge even by a creative
diplomacy backed by a superpower. The two sides still display
tremendous energies to fight for things that are important to them.
Peace and coexistence are not the most important goals of the two
warring societies. Therefore, the strategy of conflict resolution needs
to be replaced by a more realistic approach of conflict management. The
good intentions of the international community should be directed
towards minimizing the suffering on both sides rather than ending the
conflict.
At the same time,
Israel should seriously consider the wisdom of continuing to go along
with the preferences of the international community to implement the
two-state paradigm when evidence mounts that this paradigm is not
working. The attempt to impose a statist rationale on the Palestinian
national movement by hoping that a proto-statist structure such as the
PA would behave like Jordan or Egypt has failed.
The PA has failed to
meet the main test of statehood -- monopoly over use of force. As
result, it lost control over all its territory and Hamas is ruling Gaza,
where these radical terrorists are hardly building a friendly state.
Furthermore, the PA has developed into a dictatorial and corrupt
political entity, hardly deserving the aid of enlightened states. More
importantly, it is educating its children to hate Jews, while suicide
bombers are the role model for Palestinian youth. The chances of the PA
developing into a responsible peaceful state are almost nil.
Indeed, a huge majority
of the Israelis fully understand that the current Palestinian
leaderships in the West Bank, and obviously in Gaza, are not real
partners for peace. Under such circumstances, Israel's interest in
making concessions to the Palestinians just to keep their participation
in useless talks is questionable. After all, the Palestinians need
Israel more than vice versa. Abbas is still ruling primarily due to the
efforts of the Israeli security measures to clean the West Bank of Hamas
and Jihadist elements that are trying to take over the PA. Moreover,
without the economic umbilical cord to Israel the Palestinians will
suffer economic hardships.
Therefore, Israeli
concessions and gestures to keep the Palestinians talking without any
Palestinian quid pro quo make no sense. Releasing convicted terrorists,
in particular, is counterproductive. It undermines the Israel's
deterrence and its justice; it puts back on the streets individuals
intent on harming Israelis; and it radicalizes Palestinian society that
welcomes them as national heroes. Furthermore, since 1993 the
Palestinians have shown zero flexibility, refusing to budge from their
maximalist demands. They still insist on dividing Jerusalem, reject
Israeli security demands and refuse to accept Jewish national rights.
Unilateral measures and
threats should be answered in kind. A competition in unilateral
measures favors a stronger Israel over a dependent and weak PA. Israel
can make the lives of the Palestinians much less good and if they forget
this fact of life, they need a reminder. Power politics is what
everybody understands in the Middle East. In this region, fear is a
better political currency than compassion and fairness.
The Palestinian threats
to go to the U.N. and international organizations are empty. Nothing
can change the reality on the ground without the acquiescence of Israel.
For example, the acceptance of Palestine by UNESCO did not change the
lives of the Palestinians one iota. Israel should also stop fearing
Palestinian accusations at the International Criminal Court. Regular
concessions to the Palestinians for not taking this course of action
expose Israel to continuous blackmail. It is time to call their bluff
and make everyone face the consequences.
Hopefully, Israel's
government will stop the habit of paying the Palestinians to sit and
talk. It is high time to remind the Palestinians that the decisions in
Jerusalem will, to a large extent, determine their fate.
Professor Efraim Inbar,
director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, is a professor
of political studies at Bar-Ilan University and a fellow at the Middle
East Forum.
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=7971
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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