The official release of the Mitchell Commission report by the Bush administration and the appointment of William Burns as assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs this week are positive attempts to bring the Israelis and Palestinians away from this most immediate cycle of violence and toward the negotiating table.
Unfortunately, they may be too little too late and deeply flawed by the failure of the U.S. government to recognize publicly the lack of leadership in the Palestinian Authority and the political and social atmosphere that contributes to what has become a culture of violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Speaking last week to board members of the Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations and staff of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, David Roet, Vice Consul General from Israel to the Midwest, reiterated Israel’s support of the Mitchell commission’s findings, albeit with reservations. These have largely to do with a well-founded fear that Palestinian Authority head Yasser Arafat and other Palestinian leaders will use the settlements issue as a propaganda tool to achieve gains they failed to obtain through the 1993 Oslo Accords and the peace negotiations last fall.
Although Roet acknowledged that the commission correctly did not link a halting of settlement activity to a halt in violence, he worries that the Palestinians will succeed in equating them in the world’s eyes. Having failed to convince the Mitchell Commission to internationalize the conflict, the Palestinians appear to have chosen to achieve the same end through the settlements issue. What they are counting on for success is the world’s ignorance of the facts about the settlements and its failure to remember Arafat’s previous promise through the Oslo Accords to end all violence and negotiate with Israel.
“There can be no reward for stopping and starting violence,” Roet said. As for the settlements, it’s important to remember that expansion occurs only in areas even the Palestinians agree are destined to remain part of Israel, and that “Arafat rejected a chance to have more than 94 percent of the West Bank returned to him last fall.”
At press time, Israel had wisely issued a call for an immediate cease-fire and a promise not to seize land for new construction in Jewish communities in the West Bank and Gaza. The PA promptly rejected that call.
What Roet and others fear is that even though it appears sensible to freeze settlement activity even for a short time, the Palestinians will use a freeze as a pretext for further violence once the time period expires; and that, in the meantime, Israel will find itself “selling the same peace agreements again and again.”
Although the outlook in the near months remains dim, Roet said he is encouraged by polls showing that American public opinion and political support remain favorable toward Israel. “We know that without the support of the American Jewish community, the numbers would not be that way,” he said.
In crediting the American Jewish community for helping to ensure that the American public and its leaders remain informed about the “situation on the ground” in the Middle East, Roet reminds us of the role we must play as Israel faces what he describes as “its next tough battle in the world community.”
Despite its sovereign right to defend itself and its citizens, Israeli leaders know their country does not fight its battles in isolation. It has business and political ties throughout the world and relationships with other Middle Eastern countries, like Jordan, that increasingly face internal threats from their own Palestinian populations.
Israel deserves and needs the visible support of the American Jewish community as it continues to struggle with the violence in its neighborhoods and public opinion in the world. That support presupposes continued commitment to education of the Jewish and non-Jewish communities — particularly of elected officials, some of whom seem as yet unable to confront the true nature of the conflict.
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