Yoel Ben-Nun
Photo: Gabi Menashe
Where is our honor?
Latest construction freeze yet another ‘peace move’ on way to nowhere
Part 1 of analysis
The key to peace, or at the very least to stable and secure agreements in our region, can be found by adopting a very different path than the one chosen by all Israeli governments, both “Left” and “Right.” This path is also vastly different than the one adopted by the American and the European mediators.
Hence, the recent government decision to halt construction in the settlements will lead to nowhere. The same is true for the “Road Map” initiative that former Prime Minister Sharon agreed to, and current PM Netanyahu is now forced to pay for, while attempting to salvage Jerusalem.
Israeli Policy
Shimon Shiffer
Settlement freeze, deal with Hamas latest examples of one-sided Israeli generosity
The Road Map positioned the Palestinian struggle against terror on one side, vis-à-vis a halt to Israeli construction in the “settlements” on the other end. The moment relative quiet prevailed, also because of some efforts undertaken by Salam Fayyad and the Palestinian Authority, but mostly because of the mass arrests of terror leaders, the security fence, and the IDF’s ongoing and intense activity – Israel obligated to freeze construction.
This is how the Americans understand the Road Map, and it’s apparently difficult to understand it any other way. However, the very equation of construction freeze vis-à-vis an end to terrorism guarantees and perpetuates the continuation of the conflict.
The key for peace in the Middle East is mutual respect, and there is no other key. Military moves vis-à-vis military moves, civilian moves vis-à-vis civilian moves, and economic steps in exchange for economic steps.
Language of the Middle East
If Israel can exist with a large Arab minority within it, a Palestinian state can also exist with a large Jewish minority within it. The very demand for “Palestinian contiguity” that is wholly Jewish-free is a racist stipulation that will not lead to peace, bur rather, only serve to perpetuate the conflict and the hostility.
As long as it’s clear to the world and to us that an agreement with the Palestinians will require the uprooting of Jewish communities, while on the other hand it’s also clear that no Arab village will be evacuated under no circumstances and in the framework of no deal, even if the conflict goes on forever, it would mean that the Arabs enjoy “just rights” for the land while the Jews do not.
When Prime Minister Netanyahu introduced one reciprocal demand in respect to the prospect of future negotiations – recognition of Israel as the Jewish state in exchange for Israeli recognition of a Palestinian nation-state, Egypt’s president responded with shock and declared that there will be no peace. Nobody responded to him from Jerusalem, declaring that this is the only to achieve peace, because “peace” in the language of the Middle East means “honor.”
Those who have no honor have no rights, and no “peace agreement” will change that.
Part 2 of analysis to be published Saturday
