Where is Israel's "dramatic gesture"? Why is it that yet again Americans - in this case the 200 US politicians who wrote to Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah asking him to make a "dramatic gesture" toward Israel - constantly believe that the onus is on the Arabs to show they are serious about peace? Yet again Arabs are being pressured to make friends with Israel in return for a possible discussion at a later date that might deliver a comprehensive peace settlement. Meanwhile the Israelis are free to continue with the only settlements that are real, namely those that build homes for Israelis on occupied Palestinian lands. Illegal, illegitimate in Obama's words, unfriendly to put it mildly, and yet they go on. Apparently what is needed are "confidence building measures." Funny, I was under the impression that what was needed was a comprehensive peace settlement, one that feeds the starving people of Gaza, allows the return home of people who have endured the soul-destroying hardship of living in refugee camps for decades, returns stolen land to its rightful owners, allows men and women and children to go about their daily lives with the kind of security and feeling of well-being that most of us take for granted.
The Israelis almost do. Were it not for the obstinacy of Palestinians who despite every effort to put them under the yoke of Israeli occupation still manage to send the Israelis messages that all is not well, they could live under the illusion that they are safe and secure in a home that they think is rightfully theirs. They are after all the villa in the jungle. Nice, peaceful, modern, educated, articulate, civilized - in other words Western - Israelis living in beautiful villas, while all around them stone-throwing thugs refuse to leave them in peace.
I remember years ago a Jewish friend saying to me in exasperation "Why don't they just go to Jordan?" She hurled the words with passion and even a little venom. Under the polite discourse aimed at making me understand the Israeli point of view, there was an undercurrent of angry frustration: after all they had been through to build the Zionist dream, how could a band of Arabs stand in their way. Why couldn't they just disappear and why couldn't the Arab world, so vast and so nationalistic, take them all in? I don't think I was able to make her see my point of view, and neither did she succeed in bringing me over to her side of, but there is some solace to be found in the fact that this kind of argument is now largely history. Most people now accept that a two-state solution is the only answer and that both Israelis and Palestinians have a right to a viable state where they can live in peace and build lasting prosperity.
Most, but not all. What I find most startling about the idea that Saudi Arabia should normalize relations with Israel is the extent to which the West simply does not get the depth of anti-Israeli feeling in the proverbial Arab street. The Arab Peace Initiative was a giant step for the Arab world. It was a triumph of pragmatism. Making peace with Israel is generally seen as a necessary evil. It is not something Arabs feel good about; it involves an admission of failure.
The most accurate metaphor is that of a squatter - after decades of living in a home you own, he obtains rights to your home, whether you like it or not. In the latest Annual Arab Public Opinion Survey, 25 percent of respondents thought that "even if Israel returns all 1967 territories, Arabs should continue to fight." In other words, one in four people does not support the terms of the Arab Peace Initiative. As for the majority, even if they support peace, they just don't think it will happen. Specifically, they just don't think Israel will return the land it took in 1967. So when Arabs are asked to show their willingness to make peace with Israel by taking so-called confidence building measures, the response is anger and rightfully so. Prince Saud Al-Faisal is absolutely right to call "for a comprehensive approach that defines the final outcome at the outset and launches into negotiations over final status issues" and also to refuse to take the incrementalist road: "Incrementalism and a step-by-step approach, has not and, we believe, will not, lead to peace." The idea that the way to peace is through academic exchanges and letting planes fly in each other's airspace is frankly ludicrous.
This is not a dating game. We do not need steps to break the ice so that we can get to know each other a little bit and find that actually we really like each other and it might be nice to live together. What is needed is a genuine dramatic gesture and not just a gesture but a breakthrough. The Arabs have already stated the terms by which they would make peace with Israel. Those terms are neither unrealistic, unreasonable, nor far-fetched. The Arab Peace Initiative was our breakthrough. Four years on, we are still waiting for a similar gesture from the Israelis.
- Iman Kurdi can be contacted at [email protected]
