November 30 ,2012
Occupation Is the Problem
The whole world is riveted by the escalating violence between Hamas and Israel, a conflict which has killed scores of Palestinians and a small number of Israelis. Almost all the victims have been civilians, including many children.
Israel is mobilizing tens of thousands of reservists and may be massing forces for another ground invasion; the last time they did this in 2008 over 1500 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed, and tremendous physical damage was done to Gaza. While truce talks meander on, the US media predictably paints this as another case of poor little Israel having to defend itself against irrational Palestinians intent on violence and not peace.
The problem with that analysis is that it ignores the real truth. The greatest act of violence in the West Bank and Gaza is the ongoing Israeli occupation. An occupation that means land confiscation, checkpoints, midnight searches, arbitrary arrests, torture, indefinite detentions, illegal settlement building, travel restrictions, economic and social restrictions, and ultimately the right of Israel to take the property, liberty, and even life of any Palestinian it so chooses at any time or place of its choosing to which the Palestinians have no legal recourse to any neutral party whatsoever.
Unlike the Kurds of Turkey, the Tibetans in China, or the Chechens in Russia, who all face serious problems, the Palestinians are unique as they have no citizenship in any nation. This legal status, which is akin to the legal status of slaves, makes them completely vulnerable to the whims of the Israeli government. The recent disclosure that Israel so finely tuned its blockade of Gaza to count calories sufficient to create hunger and hardship but not outright starvation is just another example of the bureaucratic terror that Israel wages constantly against Palestinian civilian populations.
The barrier that Israel has built deep within the West Bank to confine the Palestinians is a grave offense against human rights, and was condemned as illegal by the World Court on a 14-1 vote, with only the American judge declining to side with the majority. The Palestinians are unable to create an independent economy, they have no control over airspace, shoreline, airwaves, or any other critical aspect of their lives. The occupation is inherently and daily an act of violence against the Palestinians. All those who want peace in the Middle East must condemn this and bring it to a rapid end; demands on the Palestinian to end attacks cannot be judged without this context.
So what should happen?
First, the fighting should cease and not continue further. We need an immediate cease-fire, one that is durable but is not an excuse to punish the people of Gaza through sanctions and blockades. The Israelis should commit to ending their policy of assassinating Hamas leaders, this tactic is completely counterproductive and leads to escalating cycles of violence. Hamas is not a small circle of leaders, it reflects a broad base of support within Gaza and killing its leaders, which Israel has done for decades, will not result in the demise of the organization.
Secondly, the Palestinians need to move forward as a united people by holding free elections in Gaza and the West Bank to create a legitimate leadership that can represent the interests of the Palestinians. The elected authorities should have the sole right to deploy armed force. Independent groups that attack Israel should stand down and accept the role of elected leaders to make policy for the Palestinians.
Third, Israel and the United States must accept the outcome of democratic elections among the Palestinians. Punishing Gaza since 2007 for voting for Hamas has been a disastrous course for Israel. It is not the job of outsiders to tell Palestinians how to vote.
Fourth, Israel needs to commit to rapidly negotiating a two-state end to this conflict. It must show its good faith by immediately halting settlement construction in the occupied lands, and by committing to a withdrawal to the 1967 borders. Critical issues such as the right of return for refugees, the disposition of the holy sites in Jerusalem, and security measures should be dealt with through negotiations. It is a Likud canard that there is no Palestinian partner for peace. Palestinians have repeatedly signaled flexibility on all of these issues, but they will not settle for a "Swiss cheese" Bantustan-style solution that has been the only offer Israel ever makes.
As the government of Israel has shown no interest in an equitable settlement for years, the Palestinian Authority is pursuing statehood recognition at the UN General Assembly.
All those who want real peace should support this move and urge the UN General Assembly to recognize Palestine as a state. The United States has blocked such recognition at the Security Council level through its veto. To start, President Obama should facilitate negotiations to end the occupation and create Palestine. Obama should also make clear to Israel that failure of negotiations will result in the US ending its use of the veto by 2015. Without this deadline, the current Israeli government has no reason to bargain in good faith and aggressively pursue peace. A US commitment to recognize Palestine would change that. Such a very bold move by Obama would completely upend the dynamic in the Middle East and force the Israelis to finally realize the game is up. Once Palestine is recognized by the US, Israel would have to withdraw or face crippling sanctions. The world is changing. The same demographic changes that reelected Obama are at play in Europe and Israel and Palestine. European nations are trending more pro-Palestinian as Muslim voters begin to have weight (their support was critical to Hollande's election in France), while the rising Palestinian majority in Israel and the Occupied Territories are making dreams of "Greater Israel" a fantasy that will never come true. The real question is whether the future holds two states, or a single democratic state in which Jews are a minority. The longer Israel drags their feet on this, the more likely it will end with the second option.
The violence in and around Gaza is a symptom. The disease is the occupation. The only answer is to deal with the real problem.
