It seems to many Jews in the Diaspora that the latest developments in the political scenery of the Middle East indicate an enormous victory for terror (and for Yasser Arafat personally).
While in the Oslo agreement all the difficult questions (Jerusalem, refugees, settlements) were to be discussed after a lengthy peace process, and before the establishment of a Palestinian state, under the Road Map a provisional state will be proclaimed before those issues are resolved. By then, Israel has to dismantle its illegal outposts, and any expansion of settlements (including their natural growth) is forbidden.
How can it make sense that the ?big? issues will be discussed only after the Palestinian state is proclaimed and recognized by the international community? What has Israel, then, to offer in exchange for a final settlement of the dispute?
As usual, the Palestinians promised again to fight terror. That is exactly what Arafat promised in 1993 as the main provision of the Oslo agreement. Now, Israel again has to give up truly vital positions for the same promises. Does anyone really expect that the initiators of the Road Map (Europe and the UN, the old friends of Israel) will insist on the full elimination of the terror infrastructure? It is much more probable that Abu Mazen will arrange for a temporary armistice by the terrorist groups until the Palestinian state is established, after which he will allow renewed terrorist activity from a much better position, in order to back up the Palestinian demands in the final talks.
Arafat endeavored successfully for years to internationalize the Israeli-Arab conflict. He knew quite well the advantage of such a step, which brings the UN and the EU, with all their anti-Israel bias, actively into the area There is no question: Arafat has succeeded. The involvement of the international community in this new peace process is frightening. It is most regrettable that such a Road Map could get America?s approval, as it is a plan without any clear demands of the Palestinians - not even a full stop to the terrible incitement in the schoolbooks and media, not even a clear statement that the Palestinian state to be established has to be fully demilitarized.
In the Diaspora, it is indeed hard to understand how the present Israeli government, working so closely with the American President and his top advisors, failed to find ways to influence this new proposal, in an effort to avoid its terrible shortcomings. And one asks oneself: How is it possible that after the energetic anti-terrorist moves in Afghanistan and Iraq, the terror in the Israeli-Arab conflict is rewarded to such a one-sided and totally unbalanced degree?
Arafat never mentioned the word ?peace? in Arabic in connection with Israel. It seems that he and his successors won?t have to use it in the future either. The elements of a real peace process are entirely lacking in the Road Map, which is an international dictate for a political agreement that does not require any true readiness for peace with Israel on the part of the Palestinians. The prestigious Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung comments on the decision of the Israeli government: ?The present plan towards peace in the Middle East could be a recipe for a new disaster.?
During the 55 years of Israel?s independence many peace proposals were made, but not realized. However, in the case of the current plan, there is a big difference: The Road Map was proposed by powerful international forces (the UN, the EU, Russia and the USA), and even more importantly, unbelievable as it may sound, it was accepted by the Israeli government.
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A.C. is a columnist living in the Diaspora.
While in the Oslo agreement all the difficult questions (Jerusalem, refugees, settlements) were to be discussed after a lengthy peace process, and before the establishment of a Palestinian state, under the Road Map a provisional state will be proclaimed before those issues are resolved. By then, Israel has to dismantle its illegal outposts, and any expansion of settlements (including their natural growth) is forbidden.
How can it make sense that the ?big? issues will be discussed only after the Palestinian state is proclaimed and recognized by the international community? What has Israel, then, to offer in exchange for a final settlement of the dispute?
As usual, the Palestinians promised again to fight terror. That is exactly what Arafat promised in 1993 as the main provision of the Oslo agreement. Now, Israel again has to give up truly vital positions for the same promises. Does anyone really expect that the initiators of the Road Map (Europe and the UN, the old friends of Israel) will insist on the full elimination of the terror infrastructure? It is much more probable that Abu Mazen will arrange for a temporary armistice by the terrorist groups until the Palestinian state is established, after which he will allow renewed terrorist activity from a much better position, in order to back up the Palestinian demands in the final talks.
Arafat endeavored successfully for years to internationalize the Israeli-Arab conflict. He knew quite well the advantage of such a step, which brings the UN and the EU, with all their anti-Israel bias, actively into the area There is no question: Arafat has succeeded. The involvement of the international community in this new peace process is frightening. It is most regrettable that such a Road Map could get America?s approval, as it is a plan without any clear demands of the Palestinians - not even a full stop to the terrible incitement in the schoolbooks and media, not even a clear statement that the Palestinian state to be established has to be fully demilitarized.
In the Diaspora, it is indeed hard to understand how the present Israeli government, working so closely with the American President and his top advisors, failed to find ways to influence this new proposal, in an effort to avoid its terrible shortcomings. And one asks oneself: How is it possible that after the energetic anti-terrorist moves in Afghanistan and Iraq, the terror in the Israeli-Arab conflict is rewarded to such a one-sided and totally unbalanced degree?
Arafat never mentioned the word ?peace? in Arabic in connection with Israel. It seems that he and his successors won?t have to use it in the future either. The elements of a real peace process are entirely lacking in the Road Map, which is an international dictate for a political agreement that does not require any true readiness for peace with Israel on the part of the Palestinians. The prestigious Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung comments on the decision of the Israeli government: ?The present plan towards peace in the Middle East could be a recipe for a new disaster.?
During the 55 years of Israel?s independence many peace proposals were made, but not realized. However, in the case of the current plan, there is a big difference: The Road Map was proposed by powerful international forces (the UN, the EU, Russia and the USA), and even more importantly, unbelievable as it may sound, it was accepted by the Israeli government.
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A.C. is a columnist living in the Diaspora.