Think again. The initiative never really got off the ground. The day before the initiative was tabled, a massive terrorist attack, the Passover Massacre, was carried out by the Hamas military wing. Thirty Israeli civilians were killed and 140 injured. The attack sent shockwaves through the Israeli society. It completely overshadowed the initiative.
Since then, the Arab peace initiative has laid dormant, although it was re-endorsed by the Arab states in 2007.
I feel conflicted. On the one hand, to accompany a proposal for peace with a massive terrorist attack does not instill any confidence in the sincerity of the initiative. In fact, it stinks. But on the other hand, this was the first time that all Arab states came together to offer such a comprehensive peace deal with Israel. Can we really let a Hamas terrorist attack destroy this opportunity?
I wonder, does there have to be zero violence before a peace initiative can be considered? Does there have to be complete trust and confidence before a deal is possible? Or is it time to breath new life into the Arab peace initiative?
14 days to go...
You must be running out of stories.
ReplyDeleteThis initiative meant everything but to bring peace one inch closer to the region....It was a political maneuver and didn't have a chance to be accepted by either side from the first moment it was introduced.
Hanukah kinds of miracles have more tendencies to become reality in our bad neighborhood than the above forgotten flop.
Save your "wonders" for real dilemmas- plenty of them around us….
Dear Carin,
ReplyDeleteLet me start by saying I was in israel the night, week of the Passover attack. It was the night the hope for a peace process disappeared, and has sadly yet to really reappear. It was not simply a random attack on a street. It was an attack on a hotel dining room where hundreds of Jews from the town of Netanya and others had come to celebrate the beginning of Passover at a community seder. It was an attack against utterly defenceless people, inlcuding children, celebrating one of the most important holidays in the Jewish calandar. It came at the end of the worst week in Israel's history for terrorist acts against innocent civilians, inlcuding attacks in crowded supermarkets where people were shopping for the Passover holidays. It came after four months of relentless Intifada attacks and bombings. And its target, a traditional seder, left its mark. It was as if a light switch went off on the hope for peace. Both the level of phsyical violence and the symbolic choice of the seder left no doubt as to a hope for peace with Hamas or the existing Palestinian authorities. To imply blame to Israel for missing the peace opportunity that was never there is simply wrong.
And that is without even looking into the nature of the peace plan. But let's just look at who offeredd it for now. What peace plan? It is easy to offer one when you are not directly involved. Hamas and the Palestinian authorities gave their answer to it with bombs. Who is Israel to negotiate peace with when the Palestinian leaders rejected peace so brutally?
To ask simply can we let a Hamas terrorist attack destroy this opportunity as if it was only Israel that responded by rejecting a real plan for peace is not fair. Hamas is not some alien or rump group in the Palestinean equation. It and the other Palestinean leaders replied loudly and clearly. There was no peace deal on offer to accept or reject, to the extent there was any legitimate offer to work on at all. It was dead in the water.
Does there have to be complete trust and zero violence before a deal is possible? One hopes not, or there will never be a deal. But the gap between that and the weeks leading to and including the Passover attack is huge. This was not just an attack, it was the culmination of months of attacks and was an act of savagery that even the most committed peace activists were unable to ignore.
This one is not on Israel.
Ok, that came out pretty strongly. Still love what you are doing!!
Howie