By Dr. Nayyer Ali

March 25, 2005

Palestinians Should Abandon Suicide Bombings

Once upon a time, there was a movement called Revisionist Zionism, also known as right-wing Zionism. Its basic view was that all the land of Palestine belonged to Jews only, and there was no legitimate place for Muslims or Christians in the land. This movement took hold in the 1930’s under the leadership of Vladimir Jabotinsky, and after the creation of Israel was championed by the Likud party. The Likud came to power in the 1970’s under Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon, and set out on a vigorous path of colonizing the Palestinian territories captured in the 1967 war.
For 15 years, this process of stealing land and building settlements went on. But the first Intifada showed to many Israelis that it could not work in the long run. Farsighted liberal Israeli leaders realized that the demographic balance was shifting in favor of the Palestinians, and there were insufficient numbers of Jews to actually absorb the Palestinian territories into Israel. Hence, Israel entered the Oslo peace process, and allowed a Palestinian Authority to be born, with Arafat in charge. However, the Revisionists did not accept this. The Labor party was attacked for selling-out the land of Israel, and in this climate of incitement, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish fanatic.
Likud came back into power with the hope of derailing Oslo. They almost destroyed the process, and along with that, built many more settlements. They had not given up on the dream.
Likud lost the 1999 election, and Barak became the Prime Minister. The negotiations at Camp David in the summer of 2000 failed to get an agreement. The consequence was the second Initifada which began in September, the election of the Revisionist standard-bearer Ariel Sharon as Prime Minister in January 2001.
Sharon proceeded to destroy and reoccupy the Palestinian Authority, and restarted building more settlements. But as the Intifada wore on, there appeared a surprising change in his thinking. Two things happened to create this.
First was the suicide bombings, which were morally reprehensible, but did have the practical effect of removing the last of the Revisionist illusions that the Palestinians could be ruled permanently by Israel and they would remain docile, as they had for the first 20 years of the occupation. The second was the Geneva Accords, which were negotiated by leading Israelis and Palestinians, and were endorsed by the many world leaders as a settlement of the conflict. What the Geneva Accords showed was that a reasonable compromise that was acceptable to a good portion of both sides could be had. This put tremendous pressure on Sharon to do something.
What he came up with was “disengagement”. In this plan, the Israelis would pull out of most Palestinian population centers permanently and retreat behind a wall. The plan called for a complete removal of all settlers from Gaza, but intended to build such a constricting barrier in the West Bank as to grab half of the land for Israel.
This plan was rejected by many of the Revisionists in Israel, and several right wing parties left the government. But when he tried to implement the plan, the wall he was building came under attack. Last year the World Court ruled it illegal. In addition, the Bush Administration rejected the original route as too much of a land grab. Finally, Israel’s Supreme Court accepted the petition of Palestinians and forced the wall to be moved further back. Last week, Israel announced its redesigned wall route, and what is striking is that it now only grabs 7% of the West Bank. The fate of two major settlements, Ariel and Maale Adumim, and the fate of East Jerusalem, remain undecided. But the upshot is that Sharon has basically given up on most of the West Bank and all of Gaza, and in doing so has made public the defeat of Revisionist Zionism. Sharon has accepted that the land from the Jordan River to the sea will be mostly Palestinian Muslim. There is still much work left to do before we have an independent and viable Palestine, but the outlines of that state are getting clearer. The Palestinians need to mobilize the global public opinion on their behalf to ensure that Israel fully withdraws to the 1967 border. To do so requires that they pursue a political strategy and abandon the use of violence, particularly suicide bombings against civilians.


PREVIOUSLY

Deflating Japan

Bush’s Axis of Evil

Speaking to Non-Muslims

If Arafat Were Jinnah

The Shape of Things to Come

South Asia Expert Calls for Negotiations on Kashmir

Kashmir After the Cold War

Kashmir Quagmire: How It Started

Kashmir: Where We’ve Been

Make Way for the Euro

Will there Be a Muslim Palestine?

Careful, Careful

Our Growing Community

Pakistan’s Golden Opportunity

Musharraf’s Reform Plans

Pakistan’s Afghan Dilemma

Humanity on the Move

Strategies of America, Pakistan and Benazir

Winners and Losers

America’s Strategy Defang the Fundamentalists

The Noose Tightens

Pakistan in America

Musharraf’s Moment

A Sad Day for America, A Sad Day for Islam

Repeal the Blasphemy Law

Bush’s Stem Cell Compromise

The Depressing Stock Market

An Evening on Human Development

“Benazir” Takes Over in Indonesia

Race Riots in Britain

Global Warming or Just Hot Air?

Milosevic on Trial

Russia’s Collapse

Economic Recovery in Pakistan?

President Khatami’s Re-election

Lifting Sanctions on Pakistan

Israel’s Moral Burden

A Break in the Logjam?

The Second American Century

Pakistan’s Constitution

Dr. Lodhi in Los Angeles

Literacy: The Road Forward

Why Yusuf Can't Read

Literacy: The Glass is Half Full

Blowing Up Buddha

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Pakistan

Did You See the Moon?

Cornrows, Ali Khan, and Culture

Will the Children Go To Harvard?

Muslim Political Progress

Information Technology Gets A Boost

Sand and Oil

On Lieberman

Pakistan Builds A Tank

Kashmir in the Nuclear Age

Full Speed Ahead on Privatization

A Muslim France?

Too Much Food

Watching the Election Why Are We Hollywood’s Villains?

A Tyrant Falls

Taliban Victorious

The Walking Whale of Pakistan
The Joy of Air Travel?

The Amazing American Economy
Arafat and Jerusalem

Names For The Children

Population: Too Many or Too Few?

It Does Matter

Aziz Goes For Growth

The Military Government's First Budget

L'Affaire Salam

End Sanctions on Iraq

Third World Democracy

Light Weapons Trade on the Rise

Iran Reforms

Back to the Future

The Saudis and OPEC Mature

How Can We Help Pakistan Develop?

Report Card on Musharraf

IMF Vs Pakistan

A Candid Discussion on Foreign Policy Issues

A Sad Tale of Missed Opportunities

Cold War In Kashmir

Whither Afghanistan?

National Security and Literacy

Pakistan Votes

The People Win

What is an Islamist?

Selling the Crown Jewels

Still Not Government

One Year After the Taliban

Benazir's Folly

Iraq and Oil

Saddam and Iraq - I

Saddam and Iraq - 2

Muslim Democracy

Zakat and Capitalism

Zakat and Capitalism - 2

The Economy Picks Up

The American Military: Power without Limit?

Good Foreign Policy is Good Anti-Terrorism Policy

The Arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammad

Bush Takes a Gamble

Bush Attacks

Besieging Baghdad

Darkness in Saddam's Bunker

Piccadilly It Aint Qissa Khani Is Still Qissa Kahani

Ed Asner and Afghanistan's Progress

Bush Delivers a Roadmap

Liberation or Imperialism

The Roadmap

Economic Rebound

Musharraf in Los Angeles

Economic Growth will lead to Democracy

Trapped by Myths and Fantasies

The Surge in Karachi Stocks

Bush's Busted Budget

America's Broken Healthcare

Time to Buy Stocks?

Islam, the State, and Human Rights

30 Years after the Oil Shock

The Future of Oil Wealth

Pakistan, India and Human Development

Pakistan's Eid Present

Iraq, Democracy and Islam

The End of Saddam Hussein

Three Wins for Pakistan

The Islamabad Declaration

Kerry's Big Wins

Repeal Hudood and Blasphemy

Bush's Growing Vulnerability

What Has Aziz Done?

Bits and Pieces

The Growth of India

Chaos in Iraq

Bush Caves in to Sharon

Abuse at Abu Ghraib

Too Harsh, Musharraf

The BJP Loses

What Do the Jihadis Want?

The Pak Economy: Bigger than We Think

Is America Richer than Europe?

Prime Minister Aziz

Unbundling WAPDA

Musharraf's Uniform

Chess Game in Kashmir

Three States, Three Debates

What's Wrong with the Democrats?

Can Elections Bring Peace to Iraq?

Elections in Iraq

Can Generals Yield to Democrats?

IMF Give Pakistan an “A”

Improve Higher Education in Pakistan

A Framework for Reconciliation

Iraq’s Elections By

Privatizing Power

Bullish in Karachi

Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
© 2004 pakistanlink.com . All Rights Reserved.