A ‘show-me’ policy for a two-state solution

by Peter Joseph and Larry Zicklin
JTA

June 4, 2009

NEW YORK — In his speech at the AIPAC policy conference in May, Vice President Joe Biden described the U.S. position regarding the Middle East peace process as “a show-me deal.” In other words, it is no longer enough for Israel, the Palestinians, and the Arab states to offer up positive rhetoric followed by inaction on their respective obligations.

A pro-Israel stalwart throughout his many years in the Senate, Biden understands that without concrete steps toward ending the conflict, threats against Israel will increase and opportunities to secure Israel’s future as a Jewish, democratic state will diminish. President Obama also understands this — and that now is the time for action.

That is why, following his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Obama declared, with the Israeli prime minister seated next to him, “The United States is going to do everything we can to be constructive, effective partners in this process.”

That is why the president, after recent discussions in the White House with leaders from Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority, is traveling to the Middle East this week for his much-anticipated speech in Cairo to the Muslim world, preceded by a meeting in Saudi Arabia with King Abdullah.

The numerous challenges facing Israeli-Arab peace and security cannot be underestimated. Chief among them are a divided Palestinian society, a weak Israeli government, and a meddling Iran brandishing a nuclear threat. At the same time, the contours of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement have been known for more than a decade, and blueprints for getting there have been laid out numerous times. What has been missing is political will — from the Palestinians, Israel and, perhaps most important, the United States.

Now is an increasingly propitious time for diplomatic action. Obama’s election and his first months in office have captured the attention of the entire world — including the peoples of the Middle East — giving his administration latitude enjoyed by few, if any, of his recent predecessors. The stakes are too high for the United States to allow any more time to be wasted.

Obama reiterated his determination to achieve a two-state solution based on the kind of “show-me” policy outlined by Biden. After his meeting with Netanyahu, the president said: “There is no reason why we should not seize this opportunity and this moment for all the parties concerned to take seriously those obligations and to move forward in a way that assures Israel’s security, that stops the terrorist attacks that have been such a source of pain and hardship, and that we can stop rocket attacks on Israel, but that also allows Palestinians to govern themselves as an independent state that allows economic development to take place, that allows them to make serious progress in meeting the aspirations of their people. And I am confident that in the days, weeks, and months to come that we are going to be able to make progress on that issue.”

In the days and weeks ahead, we believe Obama should develop a “show-me” policy based on the following five readily achievable steps:

1. an immediate renewal of U.S.-mediated Israeli-Palestinian negotiations toward the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel;
2. the cessation of Palestinian terror attacks on Israelis and of weapons smuggling into Gaza, and an increase in the number of American-trained Palestinian security forces in the West Bank;
3. a freeze on West Bank settlement construction, the dismantling of superfluous checkpoints and illegal settlements, and the cessation of demolition of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem;
4. the immediate reconstruction of Gaza with a focus on civilian needs and the local economy;
5. the pursuit of a comprehensive peace between Israel and its neighbors, including Syria, using the Arab Peace Initiative as a basis for negotiations.

These are the kinds of steps that can deprive extremist rejectionists of their ability to subvert progress, and provide momentum for moderates who seek a more peaceful and secure future for the region.

Taking these steps requires the leadership of an American president who will convey to the parties a sense of urgency built on a clear, immovable and lasting commitment to a two-state solution. This is in the national interest of the United States, Israel, the Palestinians and the people of the entire region.

Obama is providing this leadership. Thankfully, the American-Jewish community supports him. Seventy-eight percent of American Jews voted for him, and recent polls show a majority continues to support a two-state solution. 

Jewish Americans should rally behind the president as he implements a “show-me” policy that advances America’s and Israel’s shared interests.

Peter Joseph and Larry Zicklin are the president and chair, respectively, of the Israel Policy Forum.

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Settlement freeze? OK…but what next?

by Mitchell Bard
JTA

June 4, 2009

WASHINGTON — Despite more than six decades of historical evidence showing that settlements have nothing to do with peace between Israel and the Arabs, including the Gaza disengagement, President Obama has called on Israel to freeze settlements. Fair enough; Israel agreed to this step as part of the “road map” peace plan, and everyone outside (and some inside) Israel has been clamoring for such a policy.

That was the easy call. The tougher one is, what next?

Before deciding, the president should consider that the secret to the settlement movement’s success has been the Palestinians’ refusal to accept Israeli peace overtures and their failure to fulfill the commitments in their signed agreements. Before Israel offered the Palestinians autonomy in 1978-79, 6,000 Jews lived in the disputed territories. Had the Palestinians accepted even that admittedly limited proposal, the Palestinians undoubtedly would have had a state within a few years and no more Jews would have moved to the territories. Instead, by the time of the Oslo accords in 1993, 130,000 Jews were living there.

After Palestinian terrorism sabotaged the Oslo process, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered in 2000 to dismantle more than 100 settlements, withdraw from 97 percent of the West Bank, and establish a Palestinian state with eastern Jerusalem as its capital, but the Palestinians rejected the deal. At that time, the settler population was 200,000.

While the notion of America dictating policy may be irksome to many Israelis, today 275,000 Israelis are living in communities throughout Judea and Samaria. To create the Palestinian state Obama envisions will require him to make some very difficult decisions.

First, should Jewish communities be uprooted from the West Bank? If so, this endorses the Palestinian idea that Jews should not be allowed to live in the state of Palestine. Does President Obama want to endorse the idea that Jews can live anywhere in the world except in the country America helped create?

Is this consistent with the belief that Palestinian Arabs should be allowed to live in Israel, or does the president favor a transfer of populations, Jews from the West Bank to Israel and Arabs from the Israeli triangle to Palestine?

Second, must Israel dismantle cities such as Ma’ale Adumim with a population comparable to Annapolis, Md.? Most Israelis believe the settlement blocs with roughly 70 percent of the settlers should be incorporated into Israel. Is President Obama prepared to support this? If so, that is an endorsement of President George W. Bush’s 2004 letter to Ariel Sharon acknowledging that future borders must take into account demographic changes since 1967.

Finally, what if the Israelis say no? They have just fought three wars in the last nine years during which more than 1,000 people were killed. They continue to face terrorist threats and rocket bombardments. Does the Obama administration expect them to accept the possibility of a Palestinian state in the West Bank with the capability of launching rockets into Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, or targeting commercial jets at Ben Gurion Airport?

How much pressure is the president prepared to apply? Cutting off military aid and other forms of military and political cooperation? Asking the United Nations to impose sanctions against Israel? Israel’s enemies have called for such steps, but would the United States do so to a friend and ally, the only democracy in the Middle East?

Finally, does President Obama believe that the Jewish people, who survived the Holocaust, built a haven in their homeland, and have overcome the odds and the wars and the terrorism of the last six decades, can be bent to his will?

This entire approach is predicated on the notion that pressuring Israel will change the attitude of the Arabs and that they will abandon six decades of hostility, and that the radical Islamists of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hizbullah will suddenly accept a Jewish state in the Muslim heartland.

What will the president demand of the Palestinians and Arab states, and what pressure will he exert on them? If they do not make reciprocal gestures — and history is not encouraging on this point — the president’s initiative is bound for the same scrapheap with every other president’s peace plan.

Mitchell Bard is the author of Will Israel Survive? and 48 Hours of Kristallnacht: Night of Destruction/ Dawn of the Holocaust.

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