Making The First Move

Given the utter imbalance between Israel as occupier and the Palestinians as occupied, peace between them must be initiated by Israel.

By Seth Freedman
November 17, 2007 4:00 PM
Guardian

Standing on a dusty ridge on the edge of East Jerusalem, the sun blazed down mercilessly as our guide struggled to make her voice heard above the swirling wind. Sweeping her arm expansively over the hills that lay beneath us, she gave a blow-by-blow account of how Israel was expanding ever eastwards, and ever deeper, into land that had been ostensibly earmarked to form part of a future Palestinian state.

For all the overtures that successive Israeli governments have made towards peace, for all the "painful concessions" they have supposedly made to assuage the suffering of their downtrodden neighbours, the bare truth was laid out in front of us as far as the eye could see. Far from retreating from the contentious territory that is the cause of such bad blood between the two sides, it was clear that the authorities were marching ever onwards with their plans to grab more and more land in their pursuit of a Greater Israel.

The worst part about the area - E1 - that we were being taught about on the Peace Now tour was the effect that its annexation would have on forming a viable Palestinian state. E1 is the zone between occupied East Jerusalem and the vast settlement metropolis of Maaleh Adumim, and covers twelve square kilometres of land. However, the impact of its appropriation by Israel goes far beyond the size of the territory.

If, as is currently shaping up to be the case, E1 becomes the final link in the chain between Jerusalem and the settlement bloc around, and including, Maaleh Adumim, then it will result in the near-total bisection of any Palestinian state that is declared in the West Bank. And that prospect isn't likely to encourage the Palestinian militants to lay down their arms and rush to the negotiating table with Israel - and fair enough too.

After all, it's not as though they're asking for the moon in desiring a state based on what little of their land remains to the east of the Green Line. If a two-state solution is ever to come to fruition, both sides will have to make enormous sacrifices in terms of scaling back their ideal demands of what they should be given in a final settlement. On the Israeli side, the people will have to realise that the only way that they can expect the Palestinians to honour a peace agreement is by pulling back to the '67 borders, regardless of how many illegal settlements have to be uprooted in the process.

Similarly, painful as it may be, the Palestinians will have to recognise that the right of return that they hold so dear is not something that can, in its current form, be considered by their opponents if Israel is to retain its status as a Jewish state. Instead, they will have to make do with forming a state in the West Bank and Gaza - but they can't be expected to do that if Israel slices up the region into ever smaller units and subdivided cantons.

In the meantime, however, all the diplomatic talks and secret negotiations between the two sides are rendered meaningless whilst Israel makes a mockery of its commitment to peace by continuing to plough on with its settlement programme. Even the most cursory glance from atop the hilltop at the level of expansion in E1 belies the government's assertion that it is freezing settlement activity while it negotiates with the Palestinian Authority.

We drove to the site of the controversial police station that is nearing completion deep in the heart of E1, and which represents the true mendacity of those at the helm of the Israeli government. It has been built in direct contravention of orders to halt construction in contested areas of the West Bank, and its erection is another example of Israel's rush to create "facts on the ground" before the US or Europe can finally put a halt to their misdeeds.

As one settler told me during my tour of the region this summer, "every settlement began as an illegal one", and that once they became "too big to dismantle", then they'd done their job in having annexed yet another slice of the West Bank to the body of Greater Israel. The Palestinians aren't stupid - they can see full well what's going on under their noses in E1 and elsewhere, and its no wonder they're up in arms about the massive scam to which they're bearing daily witness.

In the grander scheme of things, it might seem insignificant that Israel has opted to build one more police station, given the vast number of IDF bases already dotted around the country that have been there for years. Supporters of the construction will also argue that if the Palestinians refuse to rein in their militants, then it's no wonder Israel needs to build more and more security installations to combat the threat.

But to take that view is to miss the point, which is that it's no surprise the Palestinians rise up violently against the Israeli regime when their every basic right is so cruelly ignored or trampled over by the powers that be who sanction ever-deeper encroachment into the West Bank. Israel's violent expansion is always going to breed violent resistance in response, and someone, somewhere is going to have to make the first move and do their bit to show good faith to the other side.

And, given the utter imbalance between Israel as occupier and the Palestinians as occupied, that someone must be Israel, as much to soothe their own collective conscience as to alleviate the Palestinian suffering. Adhering to international law doesn't need to be seen by the nationalist Israeli right as some kind of climbdown or retreat, but rather as a vital step to protect the long-term security of the Zionist state.

Israel has every right to exist, as a Jewish homeland within the pre-67 borders, and as a country that behaves with appropriate decency to its neighbours. However, it has no right to do what it is currently doing in E1 and throughout the rest of the West Bank - namely, signing up to peace talks with one hand while frantically digging foundations for further building all over the Territories. Until they do act honestly and take the moral high ground, they ought not be surprised when the situation blows up in their faces, both metaphorically and literally, time and again.