The Search for Genuine Peace in the Middle-East Must Continue Aliran deplores the
increasing levels of violence
in the Middle East and regrets that the ceasefire between Israel and the
Palestinians, proclaimed by President Clinton after the meeting in Sharm
el-Sheikh, has broken down. Aliran welcomes the UN
General Assembly�s condemnation of Israel�s excessive use of force against
Palestinian civilians, and the UN Human Rights Commission�s condemnation of
Israel�s �widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights�. It
is a shame that the US threatened to veto, thereby killing, a proposed
resolution that would have involved the Security Council in a similar
condemnation of Israel. If passed, a resolution by the Security Council - unlike
one passed by the General Assembly - would have been effective and binding. The recent violence was sparked off by the provocative visit on 28 September to the Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount) - where the al-Aqsa mosque and the Temple of the Dome are located � by Ariel Sharon, the right-wing opposition Likud Party leader. Ariel Sharon, who is regarded by the Palestinians as a war criminal, and described as a �committed compromise shatterer� even by the western media, is opposed to any form of joint sovereignty over the Haram al-Sharif and Jerusalem. Yet he was guarded by a thousand Israeli soldiers, which could only have occurred with Ehud Barak�s approval. It was therefore inevitable that the visit would spark off protests by the Palestinians, which it did. Thus the first killings occurred on 29 September when five young Palestinians armed only with stones were shot dead by Israeli police in the holy site. As many as 130 lives have
since been lost: except for seven Israelis, all the rest were Palestinians. Many
were very young. More than 3,000 have also been wounded during a three-week
spell of violence. After the blood-letting and
incensed display of Jewish racism, it will not be easy to return to the status
quo ante. Understandably, many Palestinians opposed Arafat�s agreement to a
ceasefire. Although the Camp David summit in July was not successful, the Oslo
peace process almost completely derailed, and a genuine and just peace nowhere
in sight, nonetheless, the anxieties, fears and hatred were at least then
contained. It is therefore important to
placate and restore confidence especially among the young Palestinians in the
search for peace. For this reason, the UN Human Rights Commission�s fact
finding mission and/or the American-led committee charged with
�fact-finding� must identify those responsible for the killings and punish
them accordingly. It is further hoped that this latest round of blood-letting
will focus attention on the need to go beyond the Oslo peace process so as to
realise a genuine and permanent peace. Genuine peace will also be
elusive if �pragamatic compromises� to secure Israel�s boundaries in
exchange for recognition of nominal Palestinian statehood are only addressed, as
has been the thrust of the Oslo peace process. Instead, the question of illegal
Jewish settlements and continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Arab
lands seized since 1967 must also be included on the agenda. In addition, the rights of
Palestinian refugees, whether now located in Israel, the Palestinian
territories, or in the diaspora, must be acknowledged, and duly compensated. In
this regard, the atrocities perpetrated by Israeli terrorists against the
Palestinians in 1948, the evidence for which is now overwhelming, must be faced
up to. The 1987-1991 intifada, or
uprising, and this latest Al Aqsa intifada, should be seen as revolts against
Israeli military occupation and as legitimate struggles to return to an even
earlier status quo ante. The Al Aqsa intifada is not, as US Secretary of State
Madeline Albright has misleadingly described, �laying siege to Israel�. In
fact, it is Israel that has laid siege to several West Bank towns. It further
imposed a tight closure over the Gaza and the land route between the Gaza and
the West Bank. This had been in response to the brutal killing of two Israeli
soldiers � which must also be condemned - who had strayed into Ramallah on 12
October. In truth, the Unites States
has not been the �honest broker� that it claims to be. It has been
Israel�s principal supporter and ally. And it has again displayed this bias
throughout this latest round of Israeli aggression. If the Oslo peace process is to contribute meaningfully towards the search for genuine peace, it must seriously have on its agenda the original United Nations Resolutions (243, 338 and 194) mandating the Madrid Conference in 1991. Among others, the resolutions required the removal of all Jewish settlements and military roads and the evacuation of all the territories annexed or occupied in 1967. Furthermore, the Oslo peace process should be brought back into the purview of the United Nations. Finally, there must also be a
sincere desire on the part of the Israeli state in particular for a genuine and
permanent peace. No doubt, the ability to live side-by-side in mutual respect
has suffered a major setback. However,
Aliran is encouraged by the spontaneous outbreak of grassroot
peoples�initiatives within Israel calling for peace. Among these joint
Jewish-Arab initiatives are:
Aliran fully supports these
little expressions of sanity, compassion and goodwill among the Jewish and Arab
people. They are very important stepping stones too towards that elusive search
for genuine peace. Dr Francis Loh [Home] [Aliran Monthly] |