Preceding the crucial Arab summit in Beirut on Wednesday has been a furious flurry of diplomatic activity. The US has intensified its efforts to secure a cease-fire. Whether Yasser Arafat will be allowed to leave Ramallah to attend the summit is a subject of speculation in many world capitals. The Saudi peace initiative on the table and the looming possibility of an American strike on Iraq are other topics being discussed. All these are exceptional issues and cannot be tackled without summoning the necessary creativity and perseverance.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has suggested he should go to the summit to give Israel’s side of the story and perhaps present a bit of his own creativity in solving the conflict. It might be stretching it a bit for Sharon to attend the summit, but by being actively engaged in the most ferocious Israeli military offensive against Palestinian lives, cities and refugee camps in the 34 years of occupation, he has stretched Israel’s military resources to the limit. In the midst of this offensive, the biggest in the territories since the 1967 war, Sharon declares he is open to negotiations. As long as his great retaliatory campaign is pursued at full force, he is ready to talk with the Palestinians. Only when Israel has finished plowing through Palestinian territories and forcing the Palestinian resistance to its knees will it welcome cease-fire negotiations. In other words, Sharon is sustaining his assault against Palestinian society while reassuring the world that he will in the end reach the negotiating table.
But if Sharon wants to negotiate, what are his conditions and what does he want to negotiate about? The answer he hopes lies in things his military offenses will determine. However, his methods are causing great civilian suffering and humiliation guaranteed to deepen the level of Palestinian anger and making it harder to imagine a future accord based on peaceful coexistence between the two peoples. Sharon’s brute-force policy is also putting a dent in the efforts of US envoy Anthony Zinni to put a truce in place, immensely complicating US diplomacy.
The series of security talks Zinni is currently working on are helping to keep the cease-fire negotiations on track. But a cease-fire that does not include a clear Israeli commitment to withdraw will only reinforce the occupation and lead to further suffering and bloodshed. If Zinni’s mission is to focus solely on a cessation of violence, it will fail because such a goal translates into nothing more than maintaining the occupation.
If Zinni was sent back simply to appease America’s Arab allies, it will not be enough. If his mission is to succeed, the United States must be ready to use its influence to demand that Sharon cease attacks, ease the pressure on average Palestinians and withdraw.
Steps toward the implementation of a truce are stipulated in previously agreed mechanisms, particularly the Mitchell Plan and the Tenet security arrangements. The cease-fire, however, must be accompanied by a political track and political vision. From the security provisions laid down in Tenet to confidence-building measures in the Mitchell report should naturally follow the Saudi peace initiative which gives the picture clarity.
The next two days will turn out to be most crucial in deciding the region’s future.
