Issues

Palestine

Daily Update on Gaza: It's not over til it's over

Posted on Friday January 16, 2009

The end is just the beginning…

The news services are reporting that the war in Gaza is on the wane. Israeli Cabinet ministers are expected to vote on a cessation of the war as early as this weekend. On the other hand, “Hamas will not accept Israeli conditions for a cease-fire in Gaza and would continue armed resistance until the offensive ends, Khaled Meshal, the leader of the Palestinian Islamist group, said on Friday.” (from Haaretz)


Now what?


Webster’s online dictionary defines the noun ‘peace’ as:


1: a state of tranquility or quiet: as
a: freedom from civil disturbance
b: a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom
2: freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions
3: harmony in personal relations
4 a: a state or period of mutual concord between governments
b: a pact or agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity


The question remains…


How do Israel and the Occupied Territories move from war towards peace? And what must be done in order to prevent such a thing from happening again?


Only a week ago, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Saud Al-Faisal spoke at a press conference in New York City after a special session of the United Nations Security Council:


The path to security is through peace, not war. And there is a path to peace.

In 2002, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia proposed a peace plan to end the Arab/Israeli conflict. This plan, named the Arab Peace Initiative, was unanimously adopted by the Arab League at its Summit in Beirut in 2002.

It is a simple and straightforward plan and one that offers justice, security and peace for all parties.


The Arab Peace Plan (the Riyadh declaration), formally adopted in March of last year by the entire Arab League, outlines a path to peace. Can this plan still serve as the basis for peace, or is it, as Syria insists today, dead?


READ…
Dr. Zogby: ‘Arab Americans and American Jews Agree‘ Monday November 25, 2002
‘Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace – Is Peace Possible?‘ Monday February 25, 2008


Struggling to define a space for peace…


“We, the people of Palestine, stand before you in the fullness of our pain, our pride, and our anticipation for we long harbored a yearning for peace and a dream of justice and freedom. For too long, the Palestinian people have gone unheeded, silenced and denied, our identity negated by political expedience, our right for struggle against injustice maligned, and our present existence subsumed by the past tragedy of another people.”

— Haidar Abd El-Shafi, head of the Palestinian Delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference, Opening Remarks (Madrid, 30 October 1991)


In a remarkable first person narrative, actor Paul Kaye writes from London of the death of his mother in law Shuli, killed six months ago not five kilometers from Gaza, by a qassam rocket. Shuli, a German immigrant whose birth certificate defines her as Palestinian… her death certificate, Israeli:


Most Israelis I know think Hamas wants to annihilate Israel. A lot of Jews over here think that too. I don’t know if that’s what Hamas wants: it depends what you read. I was over there when they blew up buses on Dissenghof Street in Tel Aviv in 1996. That act seemed to turn Israel right wing just at the moment the country was mourning the death of Rabin and was, I believe, genuinely committed to peace. But Hamas is now part of the political process whether Israel, Britain and America likes it or not and dialogue is the only way forward. Would hatred for Israel stop if it were to return to its 1967 borders? Of course not, but Israel has to do it anyway. It has to do the right thing, to help build a strong Palestinian state where people can live normal lives, work, feed their kids, be happy, safe, have dignity. That’s what most people want in life isn’t it?,/font>


At Shuli’s funeral last May, her son Jonathon, my brother-in-law, gave a speech. “Where are the doves?” he asked. “What is this land worth without someone with a vision? Nothing. Without doves it wasn’t worth the struggle.” Jonny is 34. He’s an army reservist who is studying to be a neurologist and has a two-year-old son called Boaz. He didn’t scream for blood at his mother’s graveside, he screamed for peace.,/font>


Read “A Dark Fog Has Enveloped Us“ in The Guardian.


And so…


The Arab world is struggling to create a space for peace, and different paths are emerging. The Egyptians have taken the lead with indirect negotiations in Cairo. Bloomberg News:


“All the elements are converging,” [U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon] said after meeting Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The “diplomatic track is in high gear” and the conflict may be entering “the final act,” said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.


The U.S. today signed a memorandum of understanding with Israel that pledges our help to “track and thwart weapons shipments that have allowed the Palestinian militant group Hamas rain rockets on Israeli towns and cities” (Washington Post, January 16, 2009, ‘U.S., Israel Sign Deal to Stem Weapons Smuggling Into Gaza‘).


The Associated Press reports, “On its final working day, the Bush administration signed a last-minute deal with Israel aimed at cutting off the supply of smuggled weapons to Hamas and boosting Egyptian efforts to broker a cease-fire to end fighting in Gaza..” The memorandum of understanding would provide “military and intelligence assets, including detection and surveillance equipment, as well as logistical help and training to Israel, Egypt and other nations in the region.”


Meanwhile, some try to predetermine the shape of peace…


Israel is balancing the option of a unilateral withdrawal against a formal ceasefire, mediated by Egypt, with Hamas. As the cabinet considers its options this weekend, we hope they do not forget the lessons of the past. In 2005, Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip dot not serve the cause of stability or peace.


While the unilateral withdrawal of Israeli troops may lead to a cession of violence, the path to peace must be forged by all involved. The IDF must open the borders of Gaza, Hamas must stop launching rockets, Palestinian reunification must be achieved, and Israelis and Palestinians must work together to bring about a lasting peace.


A final word from…


Bruce Springsteen, who, rumor has it, will be part of the Inaugural celebrations in Washington, D.C. this weekend. He had a message for his audience in 1985, during his “Born in the U.S.A” tour, and then he launched into a cover of the 60’s protest song by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong in 1969: “War”.


One of the enduring, extraordinary strengths of a democracy is the right of its people to hold its government to the highest standards, to speak out against injustice, and to demand that action be taken to right grave wrongs, no matter the perpetrators. Here are some of the lyrics to the song. Say it again.


War

War means tears to thousands of mothers’ eyes
When their sons go off to fight and lose their lives.

War, it ain’t nothing but a heartbreaker
War, it’s got one friend, that’s the undertaker

War has shattered many a young man’s dreams,
Made him disabled, bitter and mean
Life is much to short and precious
To spend fighting wars these days
War can’t give life, It can only take it away.

War… what is it good for?
Absolutely nothing.
Say it again