Hillary the peacemaker
ON March 2, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton embarked on her first official visit to the Middle East region. She attended an international donors' conference at the Red Sea resort, Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt), and visited Jerusalem and the West Bank.
The participation in the donors' conference was the easiest part of the tour. She pledged $300 million for war-torn Gaza.
During the visit she reportedly said: "The US is committed to a comprehensive peace between Israel and its Arab neighbours. And we will pursue it on many fronts. So too will we pursue a two-state solution."
What she meant by "comprehensive peace" was that, besides the two-state solution, Israel must have peace with all Arab states in the region with a view to restoring a congenial environment in which Arab states might open diplomatic relations with Israel.
Under the Saudi plan of 2002, endorsed by the Arab League in 2007, Arab nations would recognise Israel if Israel withdrew from land occupied in the 1967 war and a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital would be created.
While Israel's former prime minister, Ehud Olmert, welcomed the Saudi plan, ring-wing Israeli leaders want to keep parts of the territories captured in 1967. Israel also objects to the language in the plan because it appears to endorse a large-scale return of Palestinian refugees to lands inside Israel. Israel says a massive influx of Palestinians will destroy the country's Jewish character.
In September 2008, Israeli President Shimon Peres proposed putting Israel's various peace talks on one track at the United Nations, and called on Saudi King Abdullah to "further his initiative." He has since been pushing the idea in meetings with Israeli, Arab and Western officials, his office said.
There are several difficulties in making the comprehensive peace successful. Some of the reasons are mentioned below:
The recent election in Israel saw Likud Party leader Netanyahu form a hawkish right-wing government with the foreign minister, who recently made an aggressive speech rejecting the "two-state" solution. It is believed that the prime minister does not believe in an independent Palestinian state.
He thinks of "peace" terms that will be directed at their neighbours in Jordan and Egypt, by-passing the Palestinians. An Israeli solution requires a further entrenchment of the physical and political divisions between the two "halves" of the occupied territories, with control over the Palestinian parts of the West Bank handed eventually to Jordan and Gaza to Egypt.
Hamas, which controls Gaza after its victory in the election in 2006, is still considered a terrorist organisation by Israel and the US. Hillary Clinton restated Washington's demand that Hamas renounce terrorism and recognise Israel as a condition for dealing with the US. But the question is, if a coalition government of Fatah and Hamas is constituted, what will be the attitude of Israel toward such government?
Israel is persistently and grossly breaching international law and infringing fundamental human rights with impunity. The June 2008 cease-fire agreement has not been kept by Israel. The Israeli economic blockade was not lifted, although the US had pressed for relaxation of its border controls. In recent weeks, it was reported that Israeli authorities even stopped deliveries of pasta to Gaza.
Unless Syria is involved in the negotiations for a comprehensive peace, including withdrawal of Israeli occupation from the Golan Heights, peace will remain elusive in the region.
The Israeli-Palestinian issue should not be confused or merged with other major issues in the Middle East, including the Hezbullah issue in Lebanon and a high profile US-Iran-Europe-IAEA contest on the nuclear program in Iran.
It is interesting to note that Dr. Aaron David Miller, a Middle East negotiator in both the Republican and the Democratic administrations, who now works at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, is of the view that America, in the Middle East, "is not liked, not feared, and not respected […] We stumbled for eight years under George Bush over how to make war there," and the result is "an America that is trapped in a region which it cannot fix and it cannot abandon."
Observers suggest that the US secretary of state may take an initiative that is perceived as impartial and inclusive. It is suggested that the new administration in the US should engage and entice the parties, in particular Israel, and hold them accountable in practical terms, not just rhetorically.
For success in the peace efforts, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may ensure that the US does not get sucked into an Israeli approach, and be a non-partisan and credible mediator of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments