By
Lora J. Mackel
Last year, the world waited and watched with baited breath for a final solution to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After the ground-breaking Oslo accords of 1993, the violence and the tentative steps at peace, it seemed like Yasser Arafat and Ehud Barak would finally be able to go back to their constituents with a workable plan for a permanent peace.
They were so close, and then the discussion about Jerusalem sent the process into a tailspin. Both men, Arafat by militant Palestinians and Barak by right-wing Israelis, came under fire for making too many concessions. Unfortunately, this caused both to withdraw, and a series of very public and unfortunate events returned the retaliation violence for which the region was notorious.
Until now, the Bush administration has not been willing to get involved. But this week, Secretary of State Colin Powell came out and strongly criticized Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip. The United States had realized that attacks on Palestinian authority will only reduce the likelihood of an eventual peace.
Since the peace talks dissolved, the Palestinian Authority, an ineffective governing body, has been consistently threatened by Israeli policy. Though they might rightly be called the enemy by Israel now, it is important to remember that after the violence ends, they will be their negotiating partners. Additionally, the Palestinians can never learn how to govern themselves successfully without being given time to learn the ropes of government. Without one authority to act on behalf of the population, it is unlikely that the Palestinians will be strong enough to come to the table and make lasting peace decisions.
Since the peace talk broke down, the situation in Israel has become rapidly critical. Barak is no longer the prime minister and was replaced by the ultra-conservative, right-wing ex-general Ariel Sharon, who won by a narrow majority. Israelis, scared and frustrated, are no longer in the mood to discuss peace, but instead are concerned about their security.
On the Palestinian side, Arafat remains as a fragile figurehead. It would be naive, however, to have ever considered Arafat in full control of the Palestinians. Even when the peace talks were in full force, Arafat had a highly divided and radical group of people to play to. If he criticizes groups like Hamas or Hezbollah, he will lose all his support.
Like all other diplomatic matters, the end of violence in the area is going to take time, and if it is going to be successful, it cannot be by humiliating the Palestinian Authority by gunboat attacks and assassinations. These very public attacks only make the Palestinians angry and less likely to lay down their stones, mortars, homemade bombs and other smuggled arms.
Things will only get worse, however, if the attacks on Palestinian officials and authority are continued. Arafat holds power in the Palestinian areas by a very fragile thread. If the global community continues to deride him and discredit him, the hopes for a Palestinian government ever joining the global community are diminished. With its power under attack from both internal and external forces, a united Palestinian government will never exist. Without a government, Palestinian power will always be a factional collection of very different interests, therefore too unstable to come to the table in true peace.
Realizing that the policy of neglect was not going to motivate the Israelis and Palestinians to work out their issues, the Bush administration took a crucial and positive step by urging the Israel government to back off slightly, and telling the Palestinians to rein in the violence. This might seem like a small step, but it was enough to make the Israeli government withdraw from the Gaza on Tuesday, which it had re-occupied for a day.
Since November the United States has been both disappointed and disgusted, and our diplomatic community has backed off considerably from the conflict. To see peace vanish so fast, for what seemed like minor points to an outside observer, made the newly elected Bush administration unwilling to get involved. They did the right thing this week, however, by commenting on the situation.
As reluctant as we are to get involved again after the disappointment of last year, it is important that diplomacy urges a policy that ends the violence without destroying the Palestinian infrastructure.
