Farewell, Fig Leaf
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Published by Americans for The Link Middle East Understanding, Inc. Volume 46, Issue 5 Link Archives: www.ameu.org November-December, 2013 BY PAMELA OLSON hat can one conclude when by the Palestinian leadership but also by a “peace process” goes on the entire Arab world, namely: Israeli Wfor two decades without withdrawal from the territories occupied any resolution? since 1967 and a fair, negotiated solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees driven Perhaps the conflict is so intractable from their homes in 1947-49. that even people of good will cannot bridge the divides. Or maybe the conflict As we’llsee, though, the “peace proc- can be resolved, but the interlocutors ess” was designed from the beginning aren’tgood at diplomacy. (Israeli spokes- not to bring about this resolution but to people are fond of complaining they have prevent it. The process works to prolong “no partner for peace”on the Palestinian a status quo that favors a more powerful side.) over a weaker side, with an utterly biased referee posing as an “honest broker.” In fact, the parameters of solving the Israeli/Palestinian conflict are fairly What does such a process look like, straightforward, based on international how did it come about, and what can be law, and generous to Israelis (who would done to change current disastrous trends? receive 78% of the land under discus- sion). And they are agreed upon not only (Continued on Page 2.) The Link Page 2 AMEU Board (Continued from Page 1.) of Directors About This Jane Adas (Vice President) Issue The Sad Truth Elizabeth D. Barlow According to the Likud Party Edward Dillon After graduating in 2002 with a platform of March 1977: Rod Driver degree in physics from Stanford John Goelet University, Pamela Olson headed The right of the Jewish people David Grimland to the Middle East, eventually to the Land of Israel is eternal and indisputable and is linked Richard Hobson (Treasurer) settling down for two years in Ramallah, where she worked for with the right to security and Anne R. Joyce the Palestine Monitor and served peace. Therefore, Judea and Hon. Robert V. Keeley as foreign press coordinator for Samaria [the West Bank] will Kendall Landis Dr. Mustafa Barghouti’s 2005 not be handed over to any for- Robert L. Norberg (President) presidential campaign. (See page eign [i.e., Palestinian] admini- Hon. Edward L. Peck 13.) stration. Between the sea and the Jordan River there will be Donald L. Snook She chronicled her experiences only Israeli sovereignty. Rosmarie Sunderland in a memoir “Fast Times in Pales- James M. Wall tine,” a book Richard Falk, for- Such a platform is to be expected mer U.N. Special Rapporteur on from a right-wing Israeli party such AMEU National Human Rights in the Palestinian as the Likud. Unfortunately, illegal Council Territories, called the book he has Israeli settlements have expanded long been waiting for. Hugh D. Auchincloss, Jr. steadily in the West Bank since 1967 William R. Chandler On her return to the States, Ol- no matter which party has been in Kathleen Christison son worked at a think tank in power in Israel. And every U.S. Paul Findley Washington, D.C., and it is in the president since then— Democratic or Moorhead Kennedy light of that experience that she Republican— has aided and abetted Ann Kerr writes our feature article. that expansion, both before and dur- Nancy Lapp On page 14, we interview He- ing the “peace process,” sabotaging George E. Mendenhall lena Cobban, founder of the web any hope for a two-state solution. Mary Norton site www.justworldbooks.com, There was never an illusion Don W. Wagner as part of our series The Link’s among insiders in Israel and Wash- Miriam Ward, RSM Links. ington about a balanced approach to Our book/video selections are peace in Palestine/Israel based on Executive Director on page 15; they include Pamela international law. As Columbia Uni- John F. Mahoney Olson’sbook. versity professor Rashid Khalidi AMEU (ISSN 0024-4007) John F. Mahoney notes: “The words of Richard Nixon grants permission to speaking of the Arabs to Henry Kiss- Executive Director reproduce material from The inger in 1973 could have been spoken Link in part or in whole. by many of his successors, had they AMEU must be credited and Correction: On page 14 of our been as brutally frank as the thirty- one copy forwarded to our Sept.-Oct. 2013 issue, we mis- office at 475 Riverside Drive, seventh president of the United Room 245, New York, New identified the author of the book States: ‘You’vegot to give [the Pales- York 10115-0245. Tel. 212- we reviewed, “The General’s tinians] hope. It’sreally a— frankly, 870-2053; Fax 212-870- Son.” The author is Miko Peled, let’sface it: you’vegot to make them 2 0 5 0 ; E - m a i l : not Matti Peled. We regret the think that there’ssome motion; that [email protected]; Website: error. www.ameu.org. something is going on; that we’re The Link Page 3 really doing our best with the Israelis.’”1 U.S. government was called on to broker the eventual agreements. Two years later, President Ford sent a secret letter to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin stating: But five years came and went, and the Palestini- “Should the U.S. desire in the future to put forward ans received nothing except more settlements on their proposals of its own [for Middle East peace], it will land. Aaron David Miller, one of the chief advisors make every effort to coordinate with Israel its propos- during peace talks, later admitted, “Many American als with a view to refraining from putting forth pro- officials involved in Arab-Israeli peacemaking, myself posals that Israel would consider unsatisfactory,”ef- included, have acted as Israel’sattorney, catering and fectively giving Israel veto power over American for- coordinating with the Israelis at the expense of suc- eign policy in the Middle East.2 cessful peace negotiations.”4 President George H. W. Bush took the most con- Dennis Ross, President Clinton’sMiddle East en- frontational stance with Israel of any other president voy, was even clearer about this. He wrote in his 2004 since 1967, threatening to withdraw loan guarantees book The Missing Peace: “‘Selling’became part of our to the Israeli government at a time when a million modus operandi— beginning a pattern that would immigrants from the former Soviet Union were being characterize our approach throughout the Bush and resettled in Israel. It was a bid to pressure Israel to Clinton years. We would take Israeli ideas or ideas cease settlement construction, and it forced Israeli that the Israelis could live with and work them Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir to attend the historic over— trying to increase their attractiveness to the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991. This conference Arabs while trying to get the Arabs to scale back their was Bush’sattempt to use the political capital gained expectations. Why did this pattern emerge? The reali- after the First Gulf War to negotiate peace in the Mid- ties dictated it.”5 dle East. The “realities” were that Palestinian human But Palestinians were not allowed to participate rights, political realities, and just claims under inter- as a separate people or with delegates of their own national law were largely ignored in favor of Israel’s choosing. They were permitted only as part of a “joint ever-shifting “red lines.” Jordanian-Palestinian delegation”headed by a Jorda- Not just the content but also the form of the nego- nian. In addition, at the insistence of Shamir, any Pal- tiations worked in Israel’sfavor. By using endless in- estinian identified with the PLO or residing in Jerusa- terim agreements to delay serious negotiations about lem or the diaspora was banned from participating core issues (such as borders, Jerusalem, and refugees), completely.3 all the while allowing uninterrupted expansion of Is- raeli settlements and Israeli control and exploitation The Oslo Years of Palestinian resources, it gave Israel time to en- trench the occupation day to day until any acceptable The Madrid Conference became a moot point resolution based on international law became a fur- when Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization ther and further dream. Tensions naturally height- secretly negotiated a deal known as the Oslo Accords. ened. Shortly after Clinton came into office, he had the honor of presiding over a historic handshake on the Clinton tried one last time to square the circle of White House lawn between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Palestinian rights and Israeli demands during frenetic Arafat in 1993. negotiations at Camp David in 1999. The Israeli nego- tiators refused to bend and the Palestinian delega- Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. tion— who had already agreed to sign over 78% of The Accords were heavily biased in favor of Israel their historic homeland to Israel— refused to surren- and allowed for unencumbered settlement expansion der any further. The Palestinians were publicly on most of the West Bank. Palestinians were told the blamed for the impasse, adding insult to injury.6 arrangement would last for a five-year period during The final straw came in September 2000, when which final status issues would be negotiated, and the former Israeli general and alleged war criminal Ariel The Link Page 4 Sharon, a member of the right-wing Likud party, advisors, and Christian Zionist supporters made the marched on the Haram al Sharif/Temple Mount, one George W. Bush administration the most friendly of the holiest sites in Islam, with scores of armed toward Israel in U.S.