Pessimism,” “doomed to fail” and “waste of time” – these words and phrases
litter the reporting and blogging on the current talks between Israel and the
Palestinians. One can only hope to be pleasantly surprised and hear that by the
end of next summer they will be deemed a success. But seeing as how the
pessimists seem to be a majority, now may just be the time to think of creative
ways to end the stalemate.
One possibility would be for a third party to
change the rules of the game. This would fundamentally change the status quo and
force the two sides to act accordingly.
Hints about it have been popping
up in the media in the past few weeks, but no dares say it out aloud, for
various reasons.
Yossi Alpher, a former Mossad executive, points us in
the right direction in the oped “Where the negotiations could be useful” (August
29) published in this paper : “Where the negotiations could conceivably be
useful (and safer) for all concerned is if the American sponsors steer them
toward reinforcing and facilitating the one success story they can point to: the
Palestinian state-building effort in the West Bank... This in turn would ease
the political endgame of international recognition for a Palestinian state –
which is projected by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad for next August when,
coincidentally or not, the administration and the Quartet want the new
negotiations to be completed.”
There it is, right under our noses. The
talks are to conclude next summer and coincide with the end of Fayyad’s two-year
program, begun last August, to ready Palestine for statehood. Will he declare a
state then, regardless of whether or not the talks succeed? Fayyad has already
denied reports that he will, and surely if a state is to be announced –
shouldn’t President Mahmoud Abbas be running the show? Moreover, Abbas himself
has clearly stated that a unilateral declaration is not on the
agenda.
Can they even
think of going ahead with such a move before any
attempt at reconciliation with Hamas? These and many other questions remain
unanswered.
Daoud Kuttab states in T
he Washington Post on September 7
that it is simply no longer relevant whether or not the talks produce a state:
“If the talks fail because of Israeli obstructionism, Palestinians will have no
choice but to declare their state unilaterally and hope the world will recognize
it. Those Americans who witness Palestinian conduct in the negotiating room over
the coming year will have to decide whether to recognize the state or keep this
conflict festering.”
IF THE talks
do fail and there are increasing signs
of a future American recognition of a state, the gridlock could begin to
unravel.
Just two weeks ago at the UN, President Barack Obama said a
Palestinian state could be attained by next year. Also, there have been reports
of secret agreements between Obama and Fayyad concerning a future
declaration.
Obviously, there is no way Obama can come out today and
support such a move; the talks would have to officially fail first. There’s also
internal US political issues that must be taken into consideration,
predominantly the looming midterm elections.
This is the time for the
peace camp in Israel and abroad to jump on the wagon and begin applying pressure
on the American administration to publicly approve a unilateral declaration,
should the Palestinians choose to go down that route.
Such a declaration
would prompt immediate reaction from both sides. These reactions, unfortunately,
could also bring bloodshed, including violence between settlers and
Palestinians, an Israeli incursion and/or annexation of land that would cut a
future Palestinian state into unsustainable cantons, and numerous other
unpredictable scenarios. Yet despite the risk of violence, the opportunity to
finally break the gridlock is surely a better option than continuing the bloody
status quo of more than 40 years.
Whether or not the talks fail, and
whether Fayyad and Abbas can work out the differences between them, the next
stage for the peace camp must be a global grassroots campaign demanding that the
US administration, along with the European Union, recognize Palestinian
intentions to declare a state next summer.
The grassroots movement must
begin here and now, so that this declaration will not prove to be a damp squib,
like past Palestinian declarations. It can start right here – on this piece of
paper, through the blogosphere, Facebook, Twitter – all the way to 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue.
Fayyad may claim a unilateral declaration is not on
the agenda, but he’s getting things ready on the ground for the summer of
2011.
Now all he needs is you, me and Obama.
The writer is a Tel
Aviv-based journalist. He blogs at www.972mag.com