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Home , 1982 Lebanon War, Ariel Sharon, The Missing Peace

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 , two Ottawa policy consultants take close-up view of the ER FR intractable nature of the issues dividing Israelis and — beginning, literally, with '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 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 war, and later a snaking between and around 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- , but in mid-June, and 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 , was powerless to stop the ● Finally, in November 2005, he abandoned the carnage. Israelis now face a territory ruled by terrorists Party he had led to power and created a new party, roughly 60 miles from and . Needless (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, , because of the context it places on as , 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 , age and go back to work. Last sum- hese developments are simply 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 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 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. is ing the 1967 Six Day War, east of Jordan and Syria, and during the first , 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 . 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 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.

15-minute drive in normal traffic. one of them puts it, “If the peace It’s estimated that during the The trip is undertaken in an process doesn’t kill the settlement (2000-06) more than armoured SUV, and the soldiers at the process, then the settlement process 1,000 Israelis and over 4,000 Palestinian checkpoint look very will kill the peace process.” Palestinians were killed through the carefully at passports and take fifteen The PLO briefers also warn that cycle of suicide bombings and retalia- minutes to ensure that all the “coor- poverty and unemployment are at a tion. This led to the Israeli decision to dination” required is in order. critical point in Arab West Bank com- build the security fence. munities. Young people are joining he Palestine Liberation the militias because there are no jobs hile it generally follows the T Organisation (PLO) briefers are for them. The Palestinian Authority is W Green Line, the fence diverges articulate and passionate, and they too weak to provide services and to take in some Israeli settlements point to the recent World Bank report maintain order, so the various fac- inside the West Bank, reaching as much on the that tions and families are replacing its as 20 kilometres into the territory in documented their economic deterio- nascent government. some places. It separates families from ration. They argue that the Oslo- The PLO’s strongest contempt is relatives and farmers from olive groves; mandated peace process has stalled reserved for the security fence being it disrupts the flow of goods and servic- and that the pace of built to separate the West Bank from es. Access from one side to the other is in the West Bank has not lessened. As Israel. only through very tight checkpoints.

20 OPTIONS POLITIQUES JUILLET-AOÛT 2007 In the shadow of Ariel Sharon: the missing peace in the Middle East

This is a serious fence. In some to learn to live with each other. Many what should come next? As one areas, it’s built of concrete, in others, Israeli settlements deep inside the experienced observer puts it, “We barbed wire. The fence is electronically West Bank are not protected by the Jews have never decided what we monitored by sensors and closed-circuit fence, and their residents see this as want. You can’t achieve what you TV with listening posts that monitor betrayal and abandonment by their can’t define.” activity at regular intervals. Beside the own government. And it’s worth ● Finally, even if Israelis had the fence is a dirt road that is graded every recalling that in 1995, Prime Minister leaders and a social consensus, few hours, and beside that is a paved was assassinated by exactly who would they talk with road patrolled regularly by the IDF. Yigal Amir, a right-wing Israeli radical on the other side to negotiate the Trackers patrol the paved road watching for footprints For the Palestinians, the security fence is a land grab and an crossing the dirt road. escalation of the siege they feel they have lived under since For the Palestinians, the 1948. It separates Palestinian from Palestinian, the West Bank security fence is a land grab and an escalation of the from Israel and the West Bank from the Gaza Strip. It takes in siege they feel they have aquifers in a land where water is incredibly scarce. For Israelis, lived under since 1948. It on the other hand, the fence is simply a question of security separates Palestinian from and safety from terrorism. And from their point of view, the Palestinian, the West Bank from Israel and the West fence is a huge success. The terror attacks have virtually Bank from the Gaza Strip. It stopped since its construction. takes in aquifers in a land where water is incredibly scarce. For at odds with Rabin’s signing of the next steps? At this writing, Israelis, on the other hand, the fence is Oslo Accords. Hamas has taken Gaza, and there simply a question of security and safe- Finding a way forward from the is now talk of the worst of all pos- ty from terrorism. And from their current situation will not be easy. sible worlds for the Palestinians point of view, the fence is a huge suc- Among Israeli journalists, academics — a two-state scenario with Gaza cess. The terror attacks have virtually and politicians, there’s a pretty dispir- run by Hamas and the West Bank stopped since its construction. ited view of where things stand in governed by Fatah. With the mid-2007: Palestinian side now fighting hile Israel’s two largest tradition- ● Many Israelis feel they have run among themselves, the chances W al parties — Likud and Labour out of battle-tested leaders, the of moving the Oslo process for- — are nominally conservative and liber- decorated heroes who in the past ward in the foreseeable future are al, right and left are not really the fought in the country’s many wars slim to none. organizing features of the country’s and then went on to distinguished Perhaps the last word should go to political lexicon. The challenge of sur- careers in politics. The former Benn, the experienced diplomatic viving in a region where many of your president was recently forced out editor of the newspaper . “In neighbours, either across the border or of office under an embarrassing this part of the world, it always takes a across the street, are institutionally ethical cloud, and the current catalytic event to move the debate for- committed to ending your existence prime minister, Ehud Olmert, is ward to the next stage.” does more than focus the mind. It struggling under a public approval For the sake of Israelis and means you’re either a hawk of a dove rating of just under 3 percent. Yes, Palestinians alike, we can only hope concerning Israel’s relationship with that’s 3 percent! that that event will be less violent than the Palestinians and with the rest of the ● Even if the leadership were there, similar ones in the past. Arab world. It also means that every there is no social consensus policy for dealing with national and among Israelis on what the next Roxanna Benoit is a lawyer and govern- domestic security by definition must steps should be. The security fence ment affairs adviser with the Ottawa include consideration of a war strategy. has brought respite from the sui- office of Fraser Milner Casgrain. Geoff It’s important to note that Israeli cide bombers, but the motivations Norquay, a former senior adviser to Brian attitudes toward such issues as the that sent them in the first place Mulroney and Stephen Harper, is a prin- security fence and relations with the have not gone away. The removal cipal of the Earnscliffe Strategy Group in Palestinians are far from monolithic. of the Gaza settlers was supposed Ottawa. They travelled to Israel and the Some Israelis despair that the fence to help the situation, but that did- Palestinian Territories in May 2007 at disrupts the free flow of people, goods n’t stop Gaza from going up in the invitation of the Canada-Israel and services required for the two sides flames earlier this summer. So Committee.

POLICY OPTIONS 21 JULY-AUGUST 2007