You will remember that heartbreaking story about Dr. Dr. Izzeldin Abu Elaish, a Gaza doctor whose house was shelled by Israeli tanks during the attack on Gaza last year. Before his very eyes, and while he was talking by phone to an Israeli journalist, his 3 daughters were slaughtered. It was awful.
Dr. A has subsequently come to Canada and practices in Toronto. He has written a very powerful book "I Shall Not Hate" in which he argues that Israelis have to recognize the Palestinians national rights, and Palestinians have to recognize Israeli fears.
He has been claiming compensation for his losses from the Israeli government and wants to set up a foundation in the name of his dead daughters. The Israeli government has refused.
With the help of sympathetic Israeli lawyers he has now launched a court case against the Israeli government.
See 2 clips on the Real News Network.
http://therealnews.com/web3/emailtemplate1.php?thisid=1197
Peter raises a number of issues:
ReplyDelete1. “The two state solution may or may not be what most Palestinians want. It will certainly depend to a great degree on what the size and powers of that Palestinian state will be.”
This is important. One can see the reaction of Palestinians to what Abbas and others were (ostensibly) willing to cede to Israel. The 1967 borders are the compromise and must be the starting point.
2. “Canadians should agree to support any solution (one state, two states, 3 states) which Palestinians and Israelis can agree to and which fits with international law and human rights for all.” Canadians should abstain from what is essentially an internal Palestinian issue. (emphasis in original)
One is tempted to agree with this statement, but I would say it obscures an important question.
Of course we should agree to any solution acceptable to both parties. The problem is, they have been unable to reach an agreement. The statement “Canadians should agree to support any solution ... which Palestinians and Israelis can agree to” assumes negotiations leading to agreement. Many have argued that the whole negotiation process is a waste of time (see below), even before the recent leaks; and have suggested Israel must be forced to act, by other countries or, failing that, by popular action (BDS).
If Israel is to be forced to act, what are the demands?
One could choose the BDS demands, which are silent on the one-state/two-state question. The BDS demands are politically wise for a Palestinian initiative as they take into account Palestinians in the occupied territories and in Israel, and refugees, but they do beg a great many questions and, except for the first, are not suitable as practical demands to make of Israel. And the first (“Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;”) implies the evacuation of settlers in preparation for a Palestinian state in the territories.
(I asked BDS’s Omar Barghouti, privately, “If Israel ended the occupation, what would happen to international support for the BDS campaign?” “It would die in a minute,” he said.)
The point is, as Said argued long ago, the Palestinians are too weak to negotiate because they have nothing to offer Israel, and Israel has proven that it uses negotiations only to stall as it expands the occupation. So an international effort will be required to force Israel to ... what? The answer to that question cannot be: “negotiate better,” or “either a or b,” or “do whatever the Palestinians want.” It has to be concrete.
It’s possible to demand a single democratic state, but we don’t even know if Palestinians prefer that. (When I was in the West Bank in June, someone said, “the one state solution is supported by 30 per cent of Palestinians and 30 Israelis.”)
I would suggest that the two state proposal, as outlined in the Arab Peace Initiative (see http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Opinion/Article.aspx?id=205481), is the best proposal we have. It is concrete; it (with similar proposals) has vast international support; it appears to have the support of the majority of Palestinians; and it offers the most (among acceptable proposals) to Israel.
Arthur Milner
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On the uselessness of negotiations, see:
Tony Judt’s tribute to Edward Said (http://www.thenation.com/article/rootless-cosmopolitan?page=full)
Henry Siegman, 2007, The Great Middle East Peace Process Scam (www.lrb.co.uk/.../the-great-middle-east-peace-process-scam)
Arthur Milner, 2004, No more negotiations (http://www.inroadsjournal.ca/archives/inroads_15/contents.html)