HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-edittdmidlapr04.story?coll=sfla%2Dnews%2Deditorial Not Too Late To Find Peace South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board Posted April 4 2002 -The United States, the United Nations and NATO will have to provide the security guarantees for Israel. U.N. troops could patrol Palestinian areas in conjunction with Palestinian police. U.S. or NATO troops could patrol Israeli-Palestinian borders as well as the Golan Heights, which would have to be returned to Syria. Even now, peace is possible. Even now. But each day, each hour, it becomes a little less so as emotions, not rational thinking, increasingly become the basis for action in the Middle East. As the horrors mount from day to day, raw emotion has displaced strategy on both sides. It's clear that neither Israelis nor Palestinians know how to get out of the mess they're in. Outside help is desperately needed. It should come primarily from the United States, with the United Nations, NATO and the Arab world also contributing. Thus far the Bush administration, limiting its sights to a mere cease-fire, has been only moderately engaged, preferring to let the two sides find their own way to peace. That approach is not working. They are instead finding their way to full-scale war, and possibly a regional one at that. One reason the administration has been reluctant to get more involved is that it sees Israel as fighting essentially the same war against terrorism that the United States is fighting. In a way that's true, and Israel has every right to defend itself by every available means, including a reoccupation of the entire West Bank and Gaza Strip if necessary. Its recent incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas have clearly been justified in the face of monstrous acts of terrorism committed inside Israel. But they have not brought peace, nor will they. The level of fear, anger and desperation on both sides means no substantive good can come from further escalations. Yet on its own, neither side can step back. That's why the United States and the international community must step in, and soon. No, not soon. Immediately. There is grave danger in the current situation. There are so many ways it could spiral completely out of control. One would be if Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat were to end up dead during the Israeli siege of his headquarters in Ramallah. He is by far the biggest culprit in the breakdown of the peace process, but it does little good to belabor that point. No Arab leader could serenely accept the killing of Arafat without inviting his own death or overthrow. Regional war almost certainly would ensue, and it could, if not contained, become a world war. The key to moving forward is to drop the insistence, by both Israel and the United States, that the Palestinians halt their violence before terms of peace can even be discussed. That is not realistic. There is too much fury in the air, and fury only breeds more fury. It is essential, therefore, to create a separate track for comprehensive peace talks even while the violence rages. This is especially important now that the Arab League has endorsed a Saudi proposal for full normalization of relations with Israel once the Palestinian issue is settled. That momentum toward a new Middle East must not be squandered. The outlines of peace are already known. What has been lacking until now, especially on the part of Arafat and the Palestinians, is the political will to fill in the details and sign the papers. Pressure will have to be applied -- to both sides. The United States has plenty of leverage with Israel. It should tell the Israelis what it should have told them a long time ago: that the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza must be dismantled; that Israel, once given security guarantees, must return lands captured in the Six-Day War of 1967; and that Israel must share control of Jerusalem with Arabs and Muslims. There must be commensurate pressure on Arafat from Arab leaders. They should tell him what they should have told him a long time ago: that Israel has every right to be in the Middle East; that the Palestinians need to start building their own institutions of statehood rather than seeking to tear down Israel's; and that there is no "right of return" to lands and homes in Israel that the Palestinians abandoned in 1948 in the hope that Arab armies would push the Jews into the sea. Peace ultimately will consist of a fully recognized Israel secure within its "pre-1967" borders; a contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, without Israeli troops or checkpoints and with east Jerusalem as its capital; financial help of some kind for Palestinian refugees, with the United Nations, and especially Arab nations, contributing the lion's share; and full normalization of relations, including trade and cultural ties, between Israel and its Arab and Muslim neighbors. The United States, the United Nations and NATO will have to provide the security guarantees for Israel. U.N. troops could patrol Palestinian areas in conjunction with Palestinian police. U.S. or NATO troops could patrol Israeli-Palestinian borders as well as the Golan Heights, which would have to be returned to Syria. All of this is achievable, if the current violence is not allowed to paralyze all efforts and bury all hope. Peace talks cannot wait for the end of the violence. They must help end it by giving hope to both sides that a better future is possible. Even then, peace will not come overnight. It must be guarded and nurtured carefully, perhaps for generations to come. But the process must start sometime, and that time should be sooner rather than later. Later will be far too late. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
