Memo For Obama
December 07, 2008
For: the President-Elect, Mr. Barack Obama.
From: Uri Avnery, Israel.
The following humble suggestions are based on my 70 years of experience as an
underground fighter, special forces soldier in the 1948 war, editor-in-chief of
a newsmagazine, member of the Knesset and founding member of a peace movement:
As far as Israeli-Arab peace is concerned, you should act from Day One.
Israeli elections are due to take place in February 2009. You can have an
indirect but important and constructive impact on the outcome, by announcing
your unequivocal determination to achieve Israeli-Palestinian, Israeli-Syrian
and Israeli-all-Arab peace in 2009.
Unfortunately, all your predecessors since 1967 have played a double game.
While paying lip service to peace, and sometimes going through the motions of
making some effort for peace, they have in practice supported our governments
in moving in the very opposite direction. In particular, they have given tacit
approval to the building and enlargement of Israeli settlements in the occupied
Palestinian and Syrian territories, each of which is a land mine on the road to
peace.
All the settlements are illegal in international law. The distinction sometimes
made between illegal outposts and the other settlements is a propaganda ploy
designed to obscure this simple truth.
All the settlements since 1967 have been built with the express purpose of
making a Palestinian state and hence peace - impossible, by cutting the
territory of the prospective State of Palestine into ribbons. Practically all
our government departments and the army have openly or secretly helped to
build, consolidate and enlarge the settlements as confirmed by the 2005
report prepared for the government (!) by Lawyer Talia Sasson.
By now, the number of settlers in the West Bank has reached some 250,000 (apart
from the 200,000 settlers in the Greater Jerusalem area, whose status is
somewhat different.) They are politically isolated, and sometimes detested by
the majority of the Israel public, but enjoy significant support in the army
and government ministries.
No Israeli government would dare to confront the concentrated political and
material might of the settlers. Such a confrontation would need very strong
leadership and the unstinting support of the President of the United States to
have any chance of success.
Lacking these, all peace negotiations are a sham. The Israeli government and
its US backers have done everything possible to prevent the negotiations with
both the Palestinians and the Syrians from reaching any conclusion, for fear of
provoking a confrontation with the settlers and their supporters. The present
Annapolis negotiations are as hollow as all the preceding ones, each side
keeping up the pretense for its own political interests.
The Clinton administration, and even more so the Bush administration, allowed
the Israeli government to keep up this pretense. It is therefore imperative to
prevent members of these administrations from diverting your Middle Eastern
policy into the old channels.
It is important for you to make a complete new start, and to state this
publicly. Discredited ideas and failed initiatives such as the Bush vision,
the Road Map, Annapolis and the like should by thrown into the junkyard of
history.
To make a new start, the aim of American policy should be stated clearly and
succinctly. This should be: to achieve a peace based on the Two-State Solution
within a defined time-span (say by the end of 2009).
It should be pointed out that this aim is based on a reassessment of the
American national interest, in order to extract the poison from American-Arab
and American-Muslim relations, strengthen peace-oriented regimes, defeat
al-Qaeda-type terrorism, end the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and achieve a viable
accommodation with Iran.
The terms of Israeli-Palestinian peace are clear. They have been crystallized
in thousands of hours of negotiations, conferences, meetings and conversations.
They are:
13.1 A sovereign and viable State of Palestine will be established side by side
with the State of Israel.
13.2 The border between the two states will be based on the pre-1967 Armistice
Line (the Green Line). Insubstantial alterations can be arrived at by mutual
agreement on an exchange of territories on a 1:1 basis.
13.3 East Jerusalem, including the Haram-al-Sharif (Temple Mount) and all
Arab neighborhoods will serve as the capital of Palestine. West Jerusalem,
including the Western Wall and all Jewish neighborhoods, will serve as the
capital of Israel. A joint municipal authority, based on equality, may be
established by mutual consent to administer the city as one territorial unit.
13.4 All Israeli settlements except any which might be joined to Israel in
the framework of a mutually agreed exchange of territories - will be evacuated
(see 15 below).
13.5 Israel will recognize in principle the right of the refugees to return. A
Joint Commission for Truth and Reconciliation, composed of Palestinian, Israeli
and international historians, will examine the events of 1948 and 1967 and
determine who was responsible for what. Each individual refugee will be given
the choice between (1) repatriation to the State of Palestine, (2) remaining
where he/she is living now and receiving generous compensation, (3) returning
to Israel and being resettled, (4) emigrating to any other country, with
generous compensation. The number of refugees who will return to Israeli
territory will be fixed by mutual agreement, it being understood that nothing
will be done that materially alters the demographic composition of the Israeli
population. The large funds needed for the implementation of this solution must
be provided by the international community in the interest of world peace. This
will save much of the money spent
today on military expenditure and direct grants from the US.
13.6 The West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip constitute one national
unit. An extraterritorial connection (road, railway, tunnel or bridge) will
connect the West Bank with the Gaza Strip.
13.7 Israel and Syria will sign a peace agreement. Israel will withdraw to the
pre-1967 line and all settlements on the Golan Heights will be dismantled.
Syria will cease all anti-Israeli activities conducted directly or by proxy.
The two parties will establish normal relations between them.
13.8 In accordance with the Saudi Peace Initiative, all member states of the
Arab League will recognize Israel and establish normal relations with it. Talks
about a future Middle Eastern Union, on the model of the EU, possibly to
include Turkey and Iran, may be considered.
Palestinian unity is essential for peace. Peace made with only one section of
the people is worthless. The US will facilitate Palestinian reconciliation and
the unification of Palestinian structures. To this end, the US will end its
boycott of Hamas, which won the last elections, start a political dialogue with
the movement and encourage Israel to do the same. The US will respect any
result of democratic Palestinian elections.
The US will aid the government of Israel in confronting the settlement problem.
As from now, settlers will be given one year to leave the occupied territories
voluntarily in return for compensation that will allow them to build their
homes in Israel proper. After that, all settlements except those within any
areas to be joined to Israel under the peace agreement - will be evacuated.
I suggest that you, as President of the United States, come to Israel and
address the Israeli people personally, not only from the rostrum of the Knesset
but also at a mass rally in Tel-Avivs Rabin Square. President Anwar Sadat of
Egypt came to Israel in 1977, and, by addressing the Israeli people directly,
completely changed their attitude towards peace with Egypt. At present, most
Israelis feel insecure, uncertain and afraid of any daring peace initiative,
partly because of a deep distrust of anything coming from the Arab side. Your
personal intervention, at the critical moment, could literally do wonders in
creating the psychological basis for peace.
This article was published in the current issue of the progressive
Jewish-American monthly TIKKUN.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny.
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