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19 April 2002 08:00 GMT+1
Home > Argument > Commentators
Amos Oz: What we Israelis must do to bring peace to our land
The Israeli public can be mobilised to topple the settlers' government and elect a
realistic coalition
18 April 2002 Middle East Fresh evidence of Jenin atrocities Powell leaves for US
empty-handed Bethlehem monks make defiant stand in Nativity siege Ramallah
Diary: Ruins will be rebuilt Amos Oz: What we Israelis must do to bring peace to our
land Mark Steel: Take me to the Promised Land (the long way)
What can an ordinary man do when he faces an enormous fire? He can try to flee
the flames, abandoning to their fate all those who either cannot run or have nowhere
to run to. He can stand around and moan. He can blame others. And he can also fill
the teaspoon he holds in his hand with water, over and over again, and splash it on
the blaze.
Every one of us has a teaspoon.
During these days, every man of peace must draw water � at least enough to fill the
spoon he holds � and pour it on the fire: make his voice heard, object to war crimes
by either side, help the victims of these war crimes; demonstrate, persuade, write,
debate, garner support for reasonable compromise, oppose the continuation of the
Israeli occupation and the Islamic/anti- Semitic campaign for Israel's extermination.
The spoon in the ordinary man's hand is truly very small, and the fire large indeed �
but even so he must use it.
In Israel, and in Palestine as well, there must be a "teaspoon muster", joined by
every person willing to do his utmost to halt the wheels of the repression, the
killing,
the retaliation, and the retaliation for retaliation.
On the Israeli side, it is best to talk not of "unilateral separation", but
specifically of an
Israeli initiative to end the occupation, for the defence of the state of Israel.
Today, the majority of the Israeli public can be mobilised to topple the settlers'
government and elect in its stead a coalition with realistic positions. All this is to
be
based on a plan. If the Palestinian leadership agrees to this plan, all the better; but
this plan's great advantage is that it can be implemented even if the Palestinian
leadership remains neck-deep in belligerency, or prisoner in the hands of the forces
of jihad.
1. Israel will end the occupation of the Palestinian population, and will set up a
closed, fortified line in accordance with demographic reality � a line not the same as
the Green Line, but adjacent to it � that will include no occupied Palestinian
population. The permanent Israel-Palestine borders will be determined through
negotiation, with the Palestinian leadership proving, by its deeds, that it has
renounced the Islamic campaign to annihilate Israel.
2. Israel will agree to the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state in the
populated Palestinian areas, even if this state arises before a peace treaty is signed
between the sides. Militarily and morally, it will be easier for Israel to face an
enemy
state than to continue fighting a cluster of armed gangs.
3. Israel will morally acknowledge that it played a role in bringing about the Israeli-
Palestinian tragedy. At the same time, it will demand of every decent man that he
acknowledge the role of the Arab countries and the Palestinians in this tragedy.
The calamity of the Palestinian refugees is one of the origins of the violence, the
hatred, and the terror. Israel must accept no solution that does not include the
human, economic, and political rehabilitation of the Palestinian refugees � not within
Israel's borders, but in their homeland, Palestine � through international and Israeli
participation in the task of rehabilitation.
4. A comprehensive solution to the Israeli-Arab war must be sought not only between
Israel and the Palestinian leadership, but also, and perhaps primarily, between Israel
and the Arab League (which perhaps has the power to restrain displays of
Palestinian extremism). The Saudi plan, some of whose elements were adopted by
the Arab League, can serve as a point of departure � but definitely not as the finish
line � for negotiations between Israel and the League on a comprehensive solution to
the Israel-Arab war.
5. A unilateral Israeli move to end the occupation, including the dismantling of the
vast majority of the settlements, would come about only if the burden of minimising
the danger that Israeli society is being asked to face is shouldered by those who
demand that Israel carry out such a move in the absence of an Israeli-Palestinian
agreement.
The condition for ending the occupation will not be some paper signed by Yasser
Arafat, but a solid agreement concretely linking Israel with Nato and the European
Union, so as to deter the promoters of the Islamic holy war and to lay to rest once
and for all the dream of eliminating Israel � and also to ensure that the end of the
occupation will not be a shot in the arm encouraging those who are inflamed with
warmongering Arab nationalism, and will not enable them to attack Israel after it
relinquishes its control over the Palestinians.
Around such a plan as this, it will be possible to consolidate a majority of the
public, a
majority in the next elections, and perhaps even a majority in the current Knesset � a
majority that consists of the left, the centre and the more pragmatic elements of the
moderate right.
� Amos Oz 2002
The author's novel 'The Same Sea' has just been published in paperback by Viking
at �6.99
End<{{{
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