Bells of Peace (Extract)

By YORAM MEITAL
Extract from an article in Issue 14, October 27, 2008 of The Jerusalem Report. To subscribe to The Jerusalem Report click here. The Camp David Accords, signed by Israel and Egypt 30 years ago, were a watershed in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict because they pointed to a pragmatic alternative to the fixed notion that had dominated the thinking of Jews and Arabs for decades: that "there is no one to talk to and nothing to talk about." They showed that by taking risks and tough decisions, it was possible to achieve an agreement that included mutual recognition, agreed borders, security arrangements and normalization of relations. The breakthrough required strong leadership. The negotiations were fraught with difficulties and more than once hovered on the brink of collapse. The voices opposed to the "price of peace" grew more insistent, but in the end the parties signed two framework agreements under American auspices on September 17, 1978, one setting out the principles of peace between Egypt and Israel, and the other the principles for a comprehensive settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. This breakthrough, which paved the way for the full Israel-Egypt peace treaty the following March, was achieved because the three leaders, Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter, were able to seize the historic opportunity that came their way. The ongoing commitment to the peace treaty shows that it continues to serve the interests that led to its signing. From an Israeli point of view, peace was primarily a strategic response to a difficult security predicament, significantly decreasing options for an all-Arab military attack against it. The Egyptians saw it as a platform for far-reaching change, which would enable them to deal more effectively with severe economic, political and demographic challenges. And for the Americans, it became the cornerstone of their Middle East policy: The Pax Americana urged Arab leaders to adopt the Egyptian-Israeli model of making peace with Israel in return for an alliance with the world's superpower, with all the military, technological, economic and political aid that entailed. Despite these differing perspectives and the inherent difficulties that characterize Israeli-Egyptian relations, leaders of the two countries invariably define the peace between them as a strategic choice that serves vital national interests. Even during tense periods when ties were strained, they settled for a reduction of mutual cooperation, and were careful to avoid crude violations of the treaty. On the bilateral level, there have been many such strains, for example over sovereignty over Taba, arrest of Israeli civilians on suspicion of spying, incitement in the Egyptian and Israeli media, failure to carry out the normalization agreements and the question of Israel's nuclear capacity. But by far the biggest threat to Israel-Egypt relations comes from the festering Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So far, here too, the pattern has been one of reduced cooperation in times of crisis. Thus, during the first Lebanon war in 1982, launched by Israel to counter what it saw as a Palestinian threat on its northern border, Egypt recalled its ambassador from Israel, while its embassy in Tel Aviv continued to operate and even issued visas for Israeli tourists. The high number of Palestinian casualties at the start of the second intifada, in 2000, led to protests and demonstrations in which Egypt was urged to sever its ties with Israel. At an emergency summit of the Arab League in Cairo in October 2000, several Arab leaders repeated these calls and sent threatening messages to Israel. In response, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak declared that "we were surprised to hear threats that might undermine the [political] process and send the region back into an atmosphere of violence, despair and anarchy." Prof. Yoram Meital is chairman of the Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Extract from an article in Issue 14, October 27, 2008 of The Jerusalem Report. To subscribe to The Jerusalem Report click here.