This op-ed from the New York Times made me angry.
Essentially, Turki al-Faisal insists in his article, titled “Land First, Then Peace,” that the only route toward peace is pre-1967 borders. Land first, peace later. Well, dear Saudi Arabian prince, with that mindset, we’ll surely make some progress now that we know where you stand on prioritizing peace on your agenda.
Really. I hope the United States won’t take that. According to this article from JTA, George Mitchell seems to be on top of things:
“The Obama administration is working hard to create peace between Israel and the Palestinians in accordance with the principle of two states for two peoples, with both states residing side by side in harmony, peace with Syria and Lebanon, and normalization with other Arab countries,” Mitchell said. “That is the central goal to which we aspire.”
Mitchell admitted that continuing negotiations would likely mean Israel would have to make concessions in some form, “pre-1967 borders in return for normalization of ties with the Arab world,” in particular. But I do believe it would be an outrage for the U.S. to participate enthusiastically in negotiations with people who do not place peace at the top of the priority list. That’s not productive, and it most certainly is not fair on either end.
Now, to pick apart this despicable piece of writing.
Israel has never presented any comprehensive formulation of a peace plan. Saudi Arabia, to the contrary, has done so twice: the Fahd peace plan of 1982 and the Abdullah peace initiative of 2002. Both were endorsed by the Arab world, and both were ignored by Israel.
Camp David 2000? 91% of the West Bank? 100% percent of the Gaza Strip? East Jerusalem as a capital? Compensation for refugees? Oh, yeah! What happened to that? I seem to recall a certain person by the name of Arafat walking away from the table. So don’t say there’s never been a comprehensive formulation of a peace plan. Efforts were made, and subsequently refused.
A first step should be the immediate removal of all Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Only this would show the world that Israel is serious about peace and not just stalling as it adds more illegal settlers to those already occupying Palestinian land.
For some reason, my mind reels back to the outburst of orange in August 2005 when Israelis were forced to evacuate the Gaza strip. Yesterday, in conversation with some fellow students over lunch, one student asked his Israeli classmate whether he’d served in the Gaza evacuation. “Thank G-d, no,” was the response, followed by a faint shudder.
This past summer, students from Sderot came to visit my community in the Five Towns on Long Island. The purpose of their mission was twofold: One, to spread awareness, and two, to have some form of vacation from their constant responsibility to aid in sheltering the young children of their community from incessant rocket attacks from the now-Arab-occupied Gaza strip. Two ninth-grade girls ate Shabbat lunch with me and my family and told us about the stress of daily living. The danger is real. It shouldn’t be.
Truthfully, I’ve never been able to formulate a solid opinion on whether the Gaza evacuation was a wise strategical move on Israel’s part. But now I can’t help but drop all notions of politics in favor of serious consideration of the humanitarian implications of the 2005 decision. It’s impossible not to take this into account, and it further reminds us that those on the opposite end of the negotiation table are not prioritizing peace the same way we are.
The Arab world, in the form of the Arab peace initiative that was endorsed by 22 countries in 2002, has offered Israel peace and normalization in return for Israeli withdrawal from all Arab territories including East Jerusalem — with the refugee issue to be solved later through mutual consent.
Time out. Do you know what the “refugee issue” looks like? Let me show you.
Here’s one snapshot of the Arab refugee homes on the road en route to Hebron. I do not wish to make the generalization that all refugee homes are similar to this, but as I was traveling on this road in the West Bank this past August, I couldn’t help but marvel at this and all the homes that looked like this. Many Arab refugees live comfortable lives here and work in Israel.
Again, I don’t claim that all refugees have similar living situations. But I do wish to point out that the refugee issue is not as dire as it’s built up.
Peace plans, Gaza, refugees–the point is all the same. Turki al-Faisal, you got it all wrong. I’m all for peace; I wouldn’t have it any other way. But there needs to be a serious adjustment in the thinking process here. There is no “land first, peace later.” It is. Peace. Now. Any other line of thought cannot and will not bring about everybody’s end goal.
