Had today’s international one-day Middle East conference in London taken place a couple of weeks ago, it would almost certainly have been a far more one-sided event, with the international community, led by the US, demanding specific reforms from the Palestinians as a condition for peace negotiations and the latter feeling bitter that, as so many times in the past, they are the ones who have to endlessly jump through fiery political hoops and justify themselves, not the Israelis.
In the event, the meeting is not about peace moves. It is about nation building, and specifically political and security reform and the construction of the Palestinian economy. That is why, in addition to host British Prime Minister Tony Blair, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, it includes World Bank officials and ministers from some 25 European and Arab countries (the EU and Arab states being the main financiers to the Palestinian Authority). It is why the Israelis are so conspicuously absent (although how can the Palestinian nation grow and develop when they are doing everything to cripple it?). Inevitably though, the peace process is the subtext of the meeting and the Palestinians are understandably worried that new impediments to negotiations will be raised today. It would be a gross injustice if that happens.
The conference takes place against a very different background to that when it was planned. Since then, the Palestinians have democratically elected a new president and, thanks to a reformist rebellion in Parliament, have a new government as well, one committed to change, consisting of professionals rather than colleagues of the late Yasser Arafat, and determined to ensure that it, not the militants, is in control. Moreover, President Abbas has obtained a cease-fire commitment from the militants.
The Palestinians are clearly on the road of change. Reform is happening because they want it, not because the Americans or the Europeans demand it. There is no need for any outsider to preach it to them. They are as democratic as the Israelis.
It is therefore for the international community to now make concessions to them. They must provide the financial help that will allow Palestinians to have hope for the future, that will give them the vision of a prosperous and just society, so that they do not feel embittered and robbed, so that young men and women do not choose to throw their lot in with militants and the suicide bombers. As long as they do not have that vision, attacks like Saturday morning’s in Tel Aviv will not go away. The international concessions have to be political as well, even though, officially, that is off the conference agenda. There is not going to be growth while Israel’s wall and roadblocks stifle the Palestinian economy. Likewise, there is going to be no growth if the cease-fire collapses. The wall has to go; there has to be movement on the negotiations front.
Neither Condoleezza Rice nor Tony Blair nor any of the others at the conference is going to talk about the political process. But it does not matter. What matters is, having met face-to-face and discussed the situation, they leave London determined to move the political process forward and pressure the Israelis into change. The Palestinians have proved their commitment to change. Where is Israel’s commitment?
