THE ISRAELI ASSAULT on Palestinian people and territories over the last few days has been nothing short of barbaric. To date, and in the wake of the killing of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi on Wednesday, Israel has entered six Palestinian towns, murdering close to 10 people with its tanks and troops. It has broken off all contacts with the Palestinian Authority and has issued an ultimatum: Hand over those responsible for Zeevi’s death or be subjected to the treatment accorded a terrorist organization.
The wording is similar to the warning President Bush sent to those responsible for Sept. 11. But much as Ariel Sharon would like to believe he is George W. and that Yasser Arafat is a terrorist, his juxtaposition of men and events is wholly skewed. It is Sharon who is advocating the liquidation of the PA, even of Arafat himself if possible, instead of dealing with him as a partner in a process aimed at the creation of a Palestinian state and a final solution to the Middle East problem.
Borrowing another oft-used term in America these days, Sharon said Zeevi’s death had changed everything. This time, in a sense, he is right. From a political viewpoint, Sharon’s position within his government has indeed been altered. Following Sharon’s decision on Oct. 12 to withdraw Israeli tanks and soldiers from PA-controlled Hebron, Zeevi and National Infrastructure Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced they and their parties were resigning from the government, the first real crack in Israel’s national unity coalition in seven months of office.
Although Sharon still commands a 75-seat majority in the 120-member Knesset, the defection has huge implications, for the baton on the right will now pass from the ultra-nationalism of Zeevi and Lieberman to Sharon’s own Likud Party and ultimately to the main pretender to his throne, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu and his associates are opposed to any Palestinian state and want the PA defined as a terrorist organization. They also want a Likud Central Council meeting to be held sooner rather than later so that these opinions can be hammered into government policy. And here Sharon does not command a majority.
Sharon and those of his thinking should realize that this is the time to address the problem with greater urgency, seriousness and impartiality than ever before. Israel and the cause of peace do not need a man willing to offer the Palestinians only crumbs he knows they can never accept. They need a man of vision capable of recognizing the fundamental rights of the Palestinians under international law. This means a Palestinian state with all the trappings of a sovereign state. Palestinians are no longer fighting to regain more occupied Palestinian territory but seek to avoid losing the territory they already have some semblance of control over. No longer is the struggle about winning back some of the prerogatives handed over under Oslo’s self-rule agreements.
Whereas Sharon promised the Israeli people security in the last election, all that he has actually been able to deliver is revenge. This fact is covered up by the oft-repeated assumption that, whatever happens, it is always the Palestinians who start it. But Israelis must realize that they are involved in a cycle of mutual violence and that security cannot be based simply on killing for revenge’s sake.
