Beyond Demonizing Arafat - Just Peace for Israelis
by Edmund R. Hanauer
After refusing to deal with Yasser Arafat for the last four years, Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, backed by President Bush, now appears willing
to open peace talks with new Palestinian leadership.
But it is unlikely that Sharon will seriously negotiate with Palestinian
leaders -- even pacifists -- if they insist, as did Arafat, that Israel
respect the human and national rights of Palestinians. Instead, Sharon
will likely continue to seize land and water resources from Palestinians
on the Israeli-occupied West Bank for 200,000 Jewish settlers whose
settlements are illegal under international law and preclude a viable
Palestinian state. Washington's talk of creating a Palestinian state
alongside Israel will remain lip service until the Bush administration
forces Israel to stop colonizing the West Bank.
The suffering of Palestinians under occupation has prompted 630 Israeli
army reservists to publish an open letter in Israel stating their refusal
to serve in the occupied lands for a "war for the welfare of the
settlements in the [occupied] territories" and the "purpose of dominating,
expelling, starving and humiliating an entire people." In an address he
gave in 2002, Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu compared the situation in the
West Bank to apartheid.
A Palestinian state is long overdue. Although they made up two-thirds of
the population in 1947, Palestinians were allotted only 45 percent of
their homeland by the U.N. Partition Plan. In the 1948 and 1967
Arab-Israeli wars, Israel occupied the areas intended for the Palestinian
state. Since the 1980s, Palestinian leaders, including Arafat, have sought
only the rump 22 percent of Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in
1967 (the West Bank, Gaza and Arab East Jerusalem). Under the 1993 Oslo
Accords, Palestinians recognized Israel in 78 percent of the historical
Palestinian homeland and, along with the international community, naively
assumed Israel would return all of the lands occupied in 1967.
A two-state solution based on international law, including treaties signed
by Israel and scores of U.N. resolutions, would entail:
-- A sharing of Jerusalem and its holy sites. The Palestinian state would
be sovereign over Arab East Jerusalem and its 200,000 Palestinian Muslims
and Christians. West Jerusalem would be Israel's capital.
-- All or almost all Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza would be
dismantled. Israel would withdraw to the Green Line, the internationally
recognized boundary of 1967. Israel might keep the 2 percent to 3 percent
of the West Bank that includes major settlements along the Green Line,
provided the Palestinian state received an equivalent amount, in quantity
and quality, of Israeli land. Palestinians would regain their West Bank
water resources, now siphoned off by Israel.
-- Israel would recognize in principle the "right of return" of
Palestinian refugees, many expelled in 1948 by Israel. The "right of
return" is upheld by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and dozens
of U.N. resolutions. In fact, Israel was admitted to the United Nations on
the condition that refugees would be allowed home.
Under the 1947 partition plan, Israel barely had a 51 percent Jewish
majority. Even if Israel now took in 1 million refugees, Jews would still
be close to 70 percent of the population. Refugees should also be given
options to settle in Western countries, Arab states or the Palestinian
state. In addition, refugees should be compensated for property losses.
Although the United States and Israel did their utmost to blame Arafat for
the failure of peace talks, he supported a settlement along these lines at
Camp David in 2000 (and afterward). On each issue -- Jerusalem,
settlements, borders, refugees, security, water -- Arafat sought peace
based on international law, whereas Israel, backed by the United States,
tried to impose a settlement based on Israel's superior power, a
settlement rejected by almost all Palestinians.
Now Bush and Sharon will likely seek a Palestinian "partner" willing to
bend to U.S. and Israeli pressure and compromise the human rights of
Palestinians. This would prevent a just and lasting peace settlement,
weaken moderates in both communities and lead to more Israeli and
Palestinian deaths. It would betray the purported U.S. ideals of
democracy, justice and self- determination and delight anti-American
terrorists, who will gain recruits convinced that the United States is an
enemy of Arabs and Muslims.
If President Bush is serious about Israeli-Palestinian peace, he would be
wise to heed Pope Paul VI: "If you want peace, work for justice."
Edmund R. Hanauer, a human-rights activist, is director of Search for
Justice and Equality in Palestine/Israel.
The San Francisco Chronicle has a circulation of 501,000.
Versions of this opinion article also appeared in the Boston Globe, the Columbia Dispatch, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
