A cloud’s lining
Amos Oz says on Comment is Free that the rise of Hamas could be good news.
s there anything the new centre-left Israeli government can do for peace, as long as Hamas does not want any peace with Israel? It can “take the issue upstairs” - talk to the bully’s parents, as it were. In our case, the bully’s family is the Arab League, which in 2000 adopted a peace plan….It is not unthinkable that a deal between the pragmatic Israeli and Arab governments can be reached - and then brought before the Palestinians for a referendum. … Instead of Israeli disengagement - bound to leave many issues open and bleeding - we can work with Egypt and Saudi Arabia for a lasting peace.
Tags: Mideast
March 30th, 2006 at 1:20 pm
how many times do we have to go through this? First of all if the bully’s parents wanted peace there would be peace. They use the conflict to distract their population. They have been for almost 80 years.
The reality is that it takes two to tango. If one side doesn’t want to dance, there is little you one can do but dance by yourself.
March 30th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
the hope is that once one gets power and must govern (rather than disrupt the governed) one’s perspective changes, that is the hope (faint?…but there!
April 1st, 2006 at 10:31 am
It is difficult for the “bully’s parents” to fully embrace peace with Israel, they’ve been using Israel as a convenient scapegoat for decades. But steps have been made, and reality has slowly sunk in. I remember the Arab nations calling for the outright destruction of Israel, now it is only a radical fringe that believes this is possible.
But it does take two to dance, and Israel also needs to come to grips with reality. An independent Palestinian state that is strong enough to police itself is necessary for there to be peace. Israelis do of course have some reservations about a Palestinian army or police force right next door, but only a Palestinian or Arab power can disarm the anti-Israeli militants without creating more.
It’s a complicated problem and I don’t think we get the whole story over here in the US. We relate to Israelis, they are like us in many ways, we share certain values, representative democracy, individual freedom, etc, but that does not mean that we should overlook the Israeli contribution to the problem.
Israel is by far the stronger of the opposing groups, and while that is true, it will continue to exist. It is unlikely that Israel will always have such overwhelming military power; eventually the power relations in the region will even out, maybe not for 10-50 years, but it will happen. When it does, it will have been better to have made a just peace while the power is in their hands.
It does take two to tango, and the Israelis are calling the tune.