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In the Shadow of Ariel Sharon: the Missing Peace in the Middle East

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In the Shadow of Ariel Sharon: the Missing Peace in the Middle East TRE IN THE SHADOW OF ARIEL ET D’ SHARON: THE MISSING PEACE L IN THE MIDDLE EAST ISRAËL Roxanna Benoit and Geoff Norquay L E T T OM In this letter from Israel, two Ottawa policy consultants take close-up view of the ER FR intractable nature of the issues dividing Israelis and Palestinians — beginning, literally, with Ariel Sharon's security fence. While it is universally detested on the Palestinian side, the fence has also resulted in a dramatic reduction in suicide bombings. “Those Canadians who believe Sections 91 and 92 of our Constitution are complex,” write Roxanna Benoit and Geoff Norquay, “might want to contemplate the governance of the Middle East.” For the Palestinians, it comes down to land, and to the Israelis it is about security, in a region where both are in short supply. Dans cette lettre d’Israël, deux consultants politiques d’Ottawa examinent le caractère insoluble des problèmes qui divisent Israéliens et Palestiniens et dont témoigne concrètement le mur de sécurité érigé par Ariel Sharon. Une mesure unanimement condamnée du côté palestinien, qui a néanmoins entraîné une baisse radicale des attentats suicides à la bombe. « Les Canadiens qui jugent complexes les sections 91 et 92 de leur Constitution devraient se pencher sur la gouvernance du Moyen-Orient », écrivent Roxanna Benoit et Geoff Norquay. Une région où les Palestiniens en quête de territoire et les Israéliens en quête de sécurité se heurtent à une pénurie de terres et de paix. s he lies in a coma in the long-term care unit of an Eighteen months after the stroke that removed him Israeli medical centre, Ariel Sharon still casts a huge from the scene, the success of Sharon’s three initiatives is at A shadow over his country and the Middle East. best mixed: Front-line soldier in three wars between 1948 and 1973, ● The security fence is an all-but-completed reality, defence minister during the 1982 Lebanon war, and later a snaking between and around West Bank Palestinian cabinet minister in several governments, Sharon as prime communities and Israeli settlements close to the Green minister (2001-06) broke the mould of contemporary Israeli Line, the 1949 armistice line that separates Israel from politics in several ways: the West Bank. The fence is divisive, disruptive and ● Spurred by the continuing cycle of suicide bombings hugely expensive, but it has also effectively ended the initiated from Palestinian settlements, he took the deci- suicide bombings that took hundreds of Israeli lives sion in 2001 to build the security fence that now sepa- prior to its construction. rates most of the West Bank from Israel. ● Both the settlers and the IDF are long gone from the ● In a move similar to Nixon’s opening to China, he con- Gaza Strip, but in mid-June, Hamas and Fatah factions vinced the country of the need to expel more than squared off in a bloody civil war that resulted in Hamas 9,000 Israelis from 21 settlements in Gaza and to with- taking complete control of the territory. The Palestinian draw the Israeli’s Defense Forces (IDF) from the territo- Authority, the interim Palestinian self-governance body ry, a process completed in September 2005. created by the Oslo Accords, was powerless to stop the ● Finally, in November 2005, he abandoned the Likud carnage. Israelis now face a territory ruled by terrorists Party he had led to power and created a new party, roughly 60 miles from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Needless Kadima (Forward), to unite those dedicated to his poli- to say, negotiations on a possible Palestinian state are cy of unilateral disengagement, removing Israeli settle- on hold. ments from Palestinian territory and fixing Israel’s ● Sharon’s Kadima initiative is in ruins and his party’s borders with a prospective Palestinian state. future prospects are very much in doubt. His successor 18 OPTIONS POLITIQUES JUILLET-AOÛT 2007 In the shadow of Ariel Sharon: the missing peace in the Middle East as Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, because of the context it places on as Haifa, which makes an interesting has been terminally weakened by Israel and its neighbours. On the route, point about the Israelis’ ability to the scathing Winograd report on the banana plantations, the date palms adjust to circumstances and get on his government’s bungled sortie and fields of ripe barley are inter- with life. They are amazingly pragmat- into Lebanon last summer. spersed with military listening posts ic and laid back about war and peace. Olmert’s coalition is coming and communication towers, and If the rockets are flying, you lie low. unglued and will very likely need buried tanks left over from previous When the rockets stop, normalcy reinforcements to survive. conflicts. The reason is that the trip returns immediately. You fix the dam- parallels Israel’s borders with Jordan, age and go back to work. Last sum- hese developments are simply Syria and Lebanon, all of which have mer’s violence on the northern border T today’s chapters of the history attacked Israel, or been the base of ended just four days before it was time that is the region’s heritage and bur- attacks against it, at various times over to harvest the grapes from the region’s den. And for Canadian visitors to the the past 60 years. vineyards. The workers returned; the Middle East in the spring of 2007, they To visit the Golan Heights is to crop was saved. bring a clearer perspective to our cur- understand once and for all the advan- The challenges of proximity do not end with Israel’s neigh- To visit the Golan Heights is to understand once and for all bours; they are an everyday the advantage to those who hold this height of land and the reality within the country vulnerability of those who don’t. On the Israeli side, the as well. Those Canadians who plateau rises 1,700 metres straight up from the eastern shore believe sections 91 and 92 of the Sea of Galilee and the floors of Israel’s northern valleys. of our Constitution are The view is commanding and breathtaking; the complex might want to Mediterranean is off in the distance to the west. From here a contemplate the gover- nance of the West Bank. missile can reach just about anywhere in the region, and Captured by Israel dur- certainly any part of Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. Iraq is ing the 1967 Six Day War, east of Jordan and Syria, and during the first Gulf War, 39 of the West Bank is considered Saddam Hussein’s Scud missiles reached Tel Aviv and Haifa. under international law to be not part of any state and rent disputes over federal-provincial tage to those who hold this height of to be ”occupied by Israel.” As a result equalization formulas, or concerns land and the vulnerability of those of the Oslo 1 and Oslo 2 Accords, in about minuscule changes in the securi- who don’t. On the Israeli side, the addition to 11 “governates,” the terri- ty arrangements for our undefended plateau rises 1,700 metres straight up tory has been divided into three border with the United States. from the eastern shore of the Sea of administrative categories: In fact, geography and the prox- Galilee and the floors of Israel’s north- ● In Area A (17 percent of the terri- imity of borders serve as a useful start- ern valleys. The view is commanding tory), the Palestinian Authority ing point in understanding the and breathtaking; the Mediterranean has full civil control. obvious differences between Israel and is off in the distance to the west. From ● In Area B (24 percent), the Pales- Canada, as well as the complexity of here a missile can reach just about any- tinian Authority and Israel exer- just some of the challenges in the where in the region, and certainly any cise joint administration. Middle East. part of Israel, Lebanon, Syria and ● In Area C (59 percent), the Israelis To begin with the obvious, Israel’s Jordan. Iraq is east of Jordan and Syria, exercise full control. portion of the region is minuscule by and during the first Gulf War, 39 of Ninety-eight percent of the Canadian standards. The entire coun- Saddam Hussein’s Scud missiles Palestinian population lives within try can be placed within the area cov- reached Tel Aviv and Haifa. Areas A and B, and Israel retains over- ered by Lake Winnipeg, Canada’s fifth- The approach to the Lebanese bor- all control over Israeli settlements, air- largest freshwater lake, with a thou- der is heralded several miles out by space, transportation, security and sand square miles left over. areas of scorched fields and charred territorial borders. There are roughly Neighbouring countries are very forests, courtesy of the Katyusha rock- 250,000 Israeli settlers in communities close by. On a clear day, you can see ets launched against Israel by scattered throughout the West Bank. both the Dead Sea and Jordan from a Hezbollah during last summer’s war Ramallah is the headquarters of hill in Jerusalem. A three-hour drive with Lebanon. It’s quiet now but last the Palestinian Authority, and it’s from Jerusalem up the Jordan Valley to July, scores of Hezbollah rockets were about as far from Jerusalem as the Golan Heights is instructive falling on northern Israel as far south Orleans is from Parliament Hill — a POLICY OPTIONS 19 JULY-AUGUST 2007 Roxanna Benoit and Geoff Norquay Photo: Byng Giraud Ariel Sharon’s security fence, here in northern Israel, is a source of great bitterness, but has been effective in reducing the number of suicide bombings.
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