Existential Threats to Israel and Palestine: Suicides and Settlements
By Geoffrey
Kemp
From the May 26, 2002 edition of Al-Ittihad
There will be no peace between Israel and the Palestinians until Arab leaders mount a serious campaign to denounce, deter, and contain the killing of innocent Israeli civilians by Palestinian suicide bombers. Likewise, there will be no peace so long as Israel continues to build and expand settlements in land captured during the 1967 War. Each of these phenomena represents an existential threat to the two sides in the conflict.
The suicide bombings against Israeli civilians located within Israel’s pre-1967 borders, sends the signal that, despite the 1993 Oslo Accords, the Palestinians still have an agenda of eventually destroying the state of Israel. When the bombings are accompanied by strong anti-Semitic outbursts in much of the Muslim world, it is easy to be paranoid. Individual Muslim leaders have denounced suicide bombings but there has been no condemnation of the practice by important Muslim groups such as the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference. So long as these influential organizations continue to obfuscate their position on this issue, they will be viewed with great suspicion by Israel and the United States. It is worth noting that the European Union has been outspoken in its condemnation of suicide bombings. This is a threat on which the key Western countries are in complete agreement.
It is also easy to understand why, for the Palestinians, the continued expansion of Israeli settlements throughout the occupied territories, coupled with the financial incentives provided by the Israeli government for new Jewish immigrants to move to these areas, is demonstrable proof that Israel’s long term intentions are still to annex the entire West Bank and forge a greater Israel from the Mediterranean to the Jordan. More settlements means more roads and security zones and more demand for the scarce water resources of the occupied territories. Palestinian fears are reinforced by the Likud Central Committee’s recent vote to oppose the creation of a Palestinian state. The fact that two members of General Sharon’s cabinet, Avigdor Lieberman, who has rejoined the government, and Efi Eitam, the new head of the National Religious Party, represent the far right wing of Israeli politics and are determined to sustain Israel’s hold on to the occupied territory is a further indicator of dangers that lie ahead.
What must be done? Two options are possible: either international initiatives to promote new peace negotiations or further violence including possible violence within the Palestinian and Israeli communities themselves. On the international level, the United States must lead a coalition including the Arab states, the EU, and the UN to take a strong position to counter those who believe that there is a moral justification for killing civilians by suicide bombing. This has to stop. But there have to be practical incentives offered to the Palestinians to improve their day to day life. They should be offered the equivalent of a Marshall Plan to rebuild their crushed society provided they, in turn, undertake fundamental institutional reforms including an end to the romance of martyrdom.
In parallel, the United States should take a much more assertive stand against the further expansion of Israeli settlements and insist that this disastrous policy be ended. In exchange for an end to settlements and for Israel’s withdrawal to the approximate 1967 borders, the United States and Europe should offer Israel and, at some point, a Palestinian state, iron clad security guarantees, perhaps even NATO membership. These are dramatic, bold steps, but this is what may be necessary to prevent the conflict slipping out of control.
Absent some international intervention the Palestinians will likely descend into a civil war between the moderates and extremists: those who believe in a two-state solution, and those, like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who do not. Likewise the Israelis are headed in the same direction as more and more secular Jews become sick and tired of protecting outlying settlements and subsidizing a religious minority, many of whom do not serve in the Army. The current leadership of Israel and the Palestinian Authority cannot solve the crisis. Only U.S. leadership, with a strong backing from key Arab countries, Europe, and the UN, can prevent a new catastrophe.
