The Abbas-Olmert summit that did not take place last Thursday is a further indication of the level of deterioration in official Palestinian-Israeli relations. Most Palestinian commentators and observers dreaded a summit meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert with its smiles and kisses all around, but empty of any real content, and subsequently detrimental to the Palestinian people and leadership. President Abbas was right not to go ahead with the meeting, because if, as reported by sources close to the Israeli prime minister and senior Israeli commentators, he is not the address, and is someone who cannot deliver, then there is no point to such a meeting, regardless of the wishes of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who apparently is not listened to at the office of the Israeli prime minister.
Back in 1999, when Ehud Barak was the prime minister of Israel, he wasted more than a year trying to play the Palestinian peace track against the Syrian track. He did not have the courage to conclude a peace agreement with Syria and refused to withdraw completely from the Golan Heights as Syria demanded.
In the last few weeks, many signals and differing statements were issued by Israeli government officials on the subject of peace with Syria. As reported by the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahranoth Friday, Ehud Olmert apparently sent secret messages to Syrian President Bashar Assad, informing him of his government’s readiness to withdraw from the Golan Heights, and that Israel is willing to re-engage Syria in peace talks. On Saturday, Israel’s minister of transport, ex defense minister and chief of staff, Shaul Mofaz, back from strategic talks held with US officials in Washington, was reported to have confirmed the existence of the secret messages. On Sunday, joint Israeli American ariel exercises were held in the skies above the Negev.
The statements mentioned above came about after a long period of time in which Israeli and American sources refused resumption of peace talks with Syria. This, therefore, prompts the question: What caused this change of heart, and what made America and Israel change their mind? The answer simply is twofold, one, Iran and the second, a free Israeli hand in Gaza, the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem. Reports emanating from Western sources, including Israel, warn of Iran reaching a point of no return in its nuclear program, and its capability to produce nuclear weapons. The US and Israel have repeatedly said they won’t allow Iran to reach such a stage. Luring Syria into peace negotiations on the basis of returning the Golan Heights to Syria, while America or Israel are preparing to attack Iran would put Syria in a dilemma, particularly as the price for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan is a full Syrian detachment/separation from its allies in Tehran and from both Hezbollah and Hamas. Should an American or Israeli/American attack on Iran take place while Israeli-Syrian talks are making progress, the Syrian front will likely remain quiet, while the pressure on Hezbollah will increase in order for it not to open a front with Israel in the north. Also, if a peace treaty is signed between Syria and Israel on the same basis as Egypt and Jordan signed theirs, such a development will leave the West Bank, Gaza, and most importantly Arab East Jerusalem naked, with no cover, open for Israel to go ahead with its predetermined plans without even pretence of deterrence from any quarter. To expand on this particular point, the area situated northwest of Jerusalem and southwest of Ramallah is a large, sparsely populated Palestinian land, closed in by an 8-meter high concrete wall, in addition to an artificial barrier Israeli bulldozers dug in the area to limit Ramallah’s built-up areas from expanding in the direction of Arab East Jerusalem from the southwest.
According to Jerusalem municipality planning committee, the municipality intends to build 10,000 apartments for Jewish settlers in this area in addition to 10,000 more on Palestinian land south and southwest of Jerusalem. The Jewish municipality of Jerusalem is currently building additional infrastructure and rehabilitating the existing one in the said area in preparation for the actual building of this Jewish settlement that will engulf and complete the swallowing up of Arab East Jerusalem completely.
Last week, press reports and sources from the Israeli prime minister’s office stated that the Israeli government is contemplating the release of $300-400 million of Palestinian money held illegally by Israel to Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad. The report added that the rest of the money would be frozen pending Israeli court orders to use the money as compensation for families of Israelis killed by Palestinians.
This also should raise the question: Which courts can Palestinians go to, to claim compensation for the more than 8,000 Palestinians under occupation killed by Israel since 1967, for the 200,000,injured, for the 600,000 Palestinians imprisoned since 1967, for the 21,000 Palestinian homes destroyed by Israel since 1967, and the thousands upon thousands of dunums of Palestinian land confiscated and the millions of man hours lost by Palestinians waiting at the more than 430 Israeli checkpoints covering the width and length of the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem?
The reality of the situation is that Israel as a government, its institutions, and its people are not likely to make peace with the Palestinian people any time soon. This is not because of Hamas; on the contrary, Israel uses Hamas as an excuse to further its objectives and goals. Those goals are not to withdraw back to the lines of 1967; they are to consolidate Jewish presence throughout Arab East Jerusalem and large segments of the West Bank, to maintain near-complete control of West Bank water resources, to make sure that the Palestinian people remain weak, hopeless, fragmented, and in need of humanitarian and charitable assistance. It is also in Israel’s interest for the Palestinian people to be viewed by the world as terrorists. With few exceptions, the media in Israel is geared toward these objectives.
Dealing with Israel, a country that lives by the sword, and as Gideon Levy said “full of little blue and white Ahmadinejads” is a useless exercise, and requires miracles or divine intervention to put things right. How one wishes Bush whispered to Israel to change its attitude, accept the Arab peace initiative, let go of the Arab and Palestinian occupied territories, and implement his two-state vision. If Europe still has ears to hear with, it is time for it to reassert itself, and play its part.
