Easy Fix to Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright September 18, 2011
All Rights Reserved.                                         

           When the late Yasser Arafat founded the Palestine Liberation Organization May 28, 1964, it was only three years away from what the Arab world thought would be their “final solution” to Jews in the Middle East.  In the years before the 1967, Arafat did everything possible to inspire the attack led by Egypt’s Gamel Abdel Nasser—the general that liberated Egypt from the British in 1956—Jordan’s King Hussein and Syria’s Hafez al-Assad, all of whom planned methodically to annihilate the Jewish State.  When the attack began June 5, 1967, the Arab world had high hopes to wipe Israel off the map. By June 10, they suffered a humiliating defeat.  Three years later Nasser was dead—a broken man.  Nasser’s successor Anwar Sadat learned a bitter lesson:  You don’t mess with Israel.  Sadat went to his grave Oct. 6, 1981 with an assassin’s bullet precisely for his historic peacemaking with Israel in 1978.

            Fast-forward to the latest incarnation of Mideast peacemaking, another man who learned his lesson, Palestinian West Bank leader Mahmoud Abbas, is caught between a rock and a hard place, placating Hamas, the political entity that controls the Gaza Strip. Abbas inherited chairman of the PLO January 15, 2005 after Arafat died  Nov. 11, 2004 suspiciously, possibly from poisoning. It wasn’t long after Abbas took over, that hawkish Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to pull out of Gaza Sept. 12, 2005, leaving a power vacuum for Hamas.  Two years later Abbas couldn’t keep control, succumbing to a Hamas coup June 14, 2007, effectively dividing the Palestinian people into two entities:  Gaza-based Hamas and Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.  Fast-forward again to real-time:  Abbas has decided to bypass direct talks with Israel and seek recognition for an independent Palestinian state in the U.N.

            Since Arafat and the PLO got serious about Mideast diplomacy long after the 1967 Six Day War, Palestinian demands for peace and an independent state have resulted in some contructive steps, like the 1978 Camp David Accord or 1993 Oslo Accords that set up a roadmap for a lasting Mideat peace and Palestinian state.  Where Oslo and all other attempts failed was the excessiveness of Palestinian demands.  Everyone knows by now that Israel isn’t going anywhere.  It’s a highly sophisticated Western-style democracy with an intelligent, ambitious population with strong technology and agriculture, powerful military and advanced intelligence industry.  No Arab country or coalition of countries can bully Israel into peace deal.  U.N. diplomats are concerned about this week’s opening of the U.N. General Assembly and Palestinians’ attempt to win recognition without direct talks.

             Instead of going down the same predictable road to failure, Abbas should begin first with seeking recognition and sovereignty for his Ramallah-based West Bank government.  Once under siege in Arafat’s last days, the West Bank has enjoyed unprecedented growth and stability since ending its armed struggle with Israel.  Hamas’ Gaza strip has gone in the other direction.  Racked by overcrowding and poverty, Hamas continues to support “resistance” against Israel, continuing to fire missiles and booby-trap border crossings.  Still under siege, Gaza barely thrives with its elaborate tunnel operation and illicit supply lines. Thinking out of the box, Abbas should make no demands on Israel other than seeking sovereignty in the West Bank with Ramallah as the new state’s capital.  Creating a sovereign Palestinian entity would to a long way in winning the recognition needed to eventually coerce Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh into joining Abbas West Bank government.

            All prior agreements, including Camp David and Oslo, have been too complicated riddled with excessive demands and non-starters, especially Palestinians right of return, East Jerusalem as capital, dismantling Jewish settlements, etc.  If Abbas takes his case to the General Assembly, whether he gets recognition or not, he’s not going to get any closer to a Palestinian State.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ‘Bibi” Netanyahu can only do so much with his right wing to get concessions to meet Palestinian demands.  Abbas would be best served to accept Ramallah as his capital and current borders in the West Bank to make his best case for sovereignty and avoid the sticky wicket of placating both Hamas and Israel.  Asking for sovereignty in his former Jordanian territory would be met with less objections from Israel.  Once he gets Palestinian sovereignty in the West Bank, Hamas will eventually go along.

             Abbas and Netanyhu need to start Mideast peacemaking with a clean slate.  Prior agreements were hard-fought battles but too complicated to succeed.  It’s time for Abbas to think outside the box, seize control of his own state and seek sovereignty over his own territory.  As the new state gains recognition and shows stability, he’ll be in a far better place with Hamas and Israel to expand sovereignty beyond the West Bank.  Abbas must go where Arafat couldn’t go:  Beyond his peoples’ radical fringe that demanded—and fantasized—about destroying Israel.  Mideast peace can only succeed if there’s a completely new paradigm and starting point.  It would pull the rug out from underneath the skeptics for Abbas to ask for sovereignty over the West Bank, seeking to expand at some future date.  Israel—and all other parties—would have few objections to Abbas seeking taking control of the West Bank.  Without a completely new structure, history will repeat itself.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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