Small Peaces

What could Israel do to stabilize the situation in the West Bank?



Small Peaces
By Dru Oja Jay

People on either side of the Israel/US/Palestine conflict are at odds.
Israel wants the suicide bombings to stop, and Palestinians want the right
of return and for Israel to pull out of the west bank. Palestinians either
condemn suicide bombings but are powerless to stop them, or support them as
a last resort to keep Israel from dominating without consequences. Israelis
often equate the right of return with the destruction of Israel, and refuse
to risk pulling out of the West Bank, fearing giving more power to
anti-Israeli forces.

On the Israeli side, the argument is usually that any action taken to help
the Palestinians could undermine the very existence of Israel. While pulling
out of the West Bank tout-a-coup or allowing the millions of Palestinian
refugees to return all at once would lead to chaos, and a worse situation
for everyone, there remain many steps that Israel could take which do not
risk destabilization or make security more lax, but nonetheless result in
substantial improvements to the current situation. These improvements could
make life much better for both Israelis and Palestinians in the long run,
and provide for the eventual possibility of real and lasting peace.

Israel could put an end to bulldozing Palestinian homes and buildings
without warning, for instance. They've been doing this since at least 1967,
when they flattened the [1]Moroccan Quarter in East Jerusalem (though forced
removal of Arabs from their homes started in 1948). The most recent
[2]example of this practice has been in the [3]Jenin refugee camp, where 1/3
of the houses were destroyed. But what catastrophic effect would ending this
most unjust of practices have? It would mean a diminishment in Israel's
ability to intimidate Palestinians, but would it mean that police activity
against terrorists or suicide bombers would be less effective? Surely
arrests can be made and even battles fought without the gratuitous
destruction of civilian homes.

Such a move on Israel's part could also result in a small but crucial
unwillingness on the part of more Palestinians to tolerate suicide bombings
and the organizations which commit them. Furthermore, it would be the first
step on the long road to creating a situation stable enough that
Palestinians might have a political life with an agenda that extends beyond
mere survival. While the possibility of such a political life is not in the
interests of people who feel that Israel's complete domination of the region
is necessary for Israel to exist, it does make up the only possible basis
for competent and just negotiations.

If Israel took that first step, a truly massive effort would still remain in
order to arrive at anything resembling justice. In the interests of not
destabilizing, however, the next step could be to stop the systematic
harassment and humiliation that Palestinian civilians are regularly
subjected to by the occupying forces.

While not as easy as stopping the bulldozing, ending the [4]roadblocks where
Palestinians are made to wait for hours to travel only a few miles, the
interrogation, the [5]beatings, [6]denial of [7]medical treatment and the
[8]shoot-to-kill curfews would be an improvement in a grim situation, and
would not cause any sudden upset or result in turmoil. If anything, these
improvements would cause just the opposite, by allaying another small part
of the unnecessary burden that Palestinians carry every day. Similarly,
simply stopping the construction of the [9]"security fence" would save
Israel $350 million, and would end the cantonization of what have become
Palestinian enclaves, reminiscent of (if not identical in function to) South
African [10]bantustans.

Israel could also end the use of [11]torture on Palestinian "detainees".
While some will argue that lives are saved when a torture victim gives up
crucial information, it is difficult to argue for [12]official sanction of
torture, much less its use at all. So why not withdraw at least the official
[13]endorsement?

Another improvement, no more destabilizing than the others, would be to
declare the intention of granting equal rights for non-Jewish citizens of
Israel. Currently, non-Jewish citizens of Israel get [14]much less funding
for schools and public works than do Jewish citizens. Non-Jewish citizens
also find it nearly impossible to [15]buy land in certain [16]areas, much
less [17]build on it (unpermitted buildings are subject to the
aforementioned bulldozing), and other rights granted to Jewish citizens are
[18]withheld from them.

All of these steps could be consistent with any Israeli intention to
eventually live in peace with the non-Jewish Palestinians who make their
home close by. However, such a willingness could just as easily be a
politically expedient embracing of gradualism, akin to that espoused by
segregationists in the old American south. As Marting Luther King wrote in
his [19]Letter from a Birmingham Jail, "Perhaps it is easy for those who
have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, 'Wait.'"

It is hard to see how any of these steps would threaten Israel's immediate
security, but it is as difficult to imagine their actual implementation.
Taking these steps would necessitate a confrontation with the practice of
conquest and colonization which currently frames Israel's stance towards
Palestinians -- a confrontation not easily brought about.

King's Letter brings out a few suggestions for the Palestinian side. He
writes, "We know through painful experience that freedom is never
voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."
If Palestinians were, as Edward Said and other have repeatedly [20]urged, to
adopt non-violent tactics similar to those used by black South Africans or
US civil rights protesters, then perhaps these simplest of steps could be
accomplished.

The success of non-violent confrontation, however, is at least partially
conditional on the willingness of the US press to cover it. As it stands,
recent [21]non-violent protests led by independent Palestinians were covered
widely by Arab and European journalists, but [22]all but ignored by the US
media.

If, through political pressure and sustained effort, it were possible to
accomplish any of the things discussed here, it would surely be only a minor
part of what is required for justice in the region. Even making small,
tangible steps can be both encouraging, and uncover new possibilities for
both sides. Sensible Israelis and Palestinians can agree, if to nothing
else, then to these minor things. From the example that would be set (with
little risk taken), the Palestinians could find their own ways to improve
the situation.

A similar list could be made for Palestinians, and perhaps it should be. But
Palestinians do not have access to the same democratic framework which
exists for Israelis (the democracy which is "vibrant" and progressive for
many, with the glaring exception of equal status for Arab non-Jews). Indeed,
it is only after these and many other steps have been taken that
Palestinians can have elections free of [23]intimidation, and a government
that is interested in more than the benefit of [24]those in power.

 References:
   1. http://jqf-jerusalem.org/journal/2000/jqf7/abowd.html
   2. http://jerusalem.indymedia.org/news/2002/04/9340.php
   3. http://jerusalem.indymedia.org/news/2002/04/8042.php
   4. http://www.poica.org/casestudies/segregating-wb/
   5. http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/2002/israel01032002.html
   6. http://electronicintifada.net/historicalmyths/medicaltreatment.html
   7. http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/recent/MDE150322002!Open
   8. http://leb.net/~bcome/palestine/phric4.html
   9. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61385-2002Jun16.html
  10. http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/e/e-bantustan.asp
  11. http://leb.net/~bcome/palestine/legal_torture.html
  12. http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/ihr/hrcomments/1997/may14-97.html
  13. http://monkeyfist.com/articles/326
  14. http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2000/09/28/fp7s2-csm.shtml
  15. http://www.freep.com/news/nw/qkadan18.htm
  16. http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0799/9907018.html
  17. http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/1998/1948/378_tikv.htm
  18. http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/E.C.12.1.Add.27.En?OpenDocument
  19. http://almaz.com/nobel/peace/MLK-jail.html
  20. http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2001/560/op2.htm
  21. http://www.counterpunch.org/saidtruths.html
  22. http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/emailfax/silenceofthelambs.asp
  23. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/51/062.html
  24. http://www.likud.nl/press40.html



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Posted on Monkeyfist at http://monkeyfist.com/articles/818