The opportunities for a successful breakthrough in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are so high, that one is afraid to talk about it so as not to jinx the chances for peace. But, superstition aside, and if we wish to make sure that this present opportunity is not missed, the success in the peace process will depend in a large part on lessons learned from previous failures.
Before delving into the difficult macro political issues, a more practical micro approach would be advisable in order to accomplish any form of success. Early success, however, will not happen until the daily lives of Palestinians and Israelis is given top priority. Every day Israelis and Palestinians must be able to conduct their lives in Tel Aviv or Jenin with normality and without fear for their lives and futures. While the Israeli population felt a sense of terror, Palestinians have faced collective punishment in the form of travel restrictions, home demolitions, and economic devastation.
Simultaneously with the improvements in daily lives, there is a need to begin serious negotiations. Every attempt must be made to make sure that there is no repetition of previous periods in which there was a long-term absence of hope. As long as there are peace talks, people will have hope. Naturally this doesn’t mean that there should be negotiations for negotiations’ sake, but there must be regular and continuous efforts to give Palestinians a feeling that there is a positive future ahead of them. Only when they feel that they have more to lose than gain by violence will we be able to cut off the oxygen that has kept the violence going.
Palestinian-Israeli peace talks at present don’t seem to have the ingredients for a quick solution. A lesson of past mistakes would require the leaders to initially articulate the goals of the talks, and then walk back from these goals to find practical solutions for specific areas of disagreement. The differences are so big and the anger level is so fragile that an attempt to resolve all conflicting issues will most likely take much longer than most people would like.
An early agreement on the broad goals of the negotiations will naturally mean that they agree early on that neither side should carry out actions that would hurt long-term solutions. So if both sides agree on the two-state solution, which they seem to have accepted, then they must agree to do everything possible to ensure that this final status will not be violated by either side.
An important lesson of past failures would be not to allow either side to harm the agreed-to long-term solution. Creating facts on the ground and trying to influence the permanent solution can threaten to break up the entire process. While this can apply to many areas, the most obvious areas that threaten the entire peace process will be the issues of Jewish settlements, Jerusalem, and refugees.
Palestinians feel that one of the main reasons that the Oslo process failed was because it did not include any specific guarantee that Jewish settlement activities in the Palestinian areas would be suspended. When Israeli settlements kept growing, the entire peace process faltered because of the lack of trust that the Palestinian public had in the talks.
Similarly, the Palestinian authority failed to realize the destructive effects to the peace process of violent attacks against Israeli civilians. For Palestinians, if settlement activity can be stopped, Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian negotiators will have plenty of time to work slowly and carefully in the negotiations. For Palestinians, this single area is seen as a continuous hemorrhage of the viability of a Palestinian state.
The Palestinian and Israeli media must also look back and evaluate its role in fanning public opinion. In the Israeli media, the newspapers ran sensational headlines and television had continuous emotional coverage, while the Palestinian and Arab television filled the screens with bloody images. Neither side stopped for a moment to break the stereotyping and dehumanization of the other.
Both parties, and especially both leaders, must agree not to allow the minority radicals on both sides to dictate the rules of the game for the moderate majorities. For Israelis, if they are convinced that Palestinian refugees will return to the Palestinian state and not Israel, they will be more confident that Palestinians are serious about living peacefully side-by-side and will be more willing to release Palestinian prisoners.
In addition to the settlement and refugee issue, much work will be needed on the economic front. The fruits of peace in the form of an improvement in the economic health of the future Palestinian state will also need plenty of attention. This means that both on the legal and administrative fronts, as well as the general movement of goods and people, will also need the attention of negotiators.
While it has been very difficult to find the mechanism to break the current cycle of violence, such success will prove futile if both parties are unable to build on it with serious tangible and credible efforts. These efforts must be translated into actions that the public can see and feel in order to keep the flame of hope alive. So much can go wrong if not enough care is given to build on the current baby steps. The world today knows that this conflict will not end until the Palestinians are assured of a free and independent state and the Israelis are able to enjoy security within the borders of their state. The two-state solution must become the reality for the Muhammads and the Moshes of Palestine and Israel.
— Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist and the director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University in Ramallah. This article is part of a series of views on “Enlarging the window of opportunity”, published in partnership with the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
