Freedom for the Palestinians

When it comes to the resolution of their conflict with Israel, the Arab states have been accused of always remaining a step behind appreciating the ground realities. The Zionists, representing the political and military face of the world Jewry, spearheaded the movement which resulted in the emergence of Israel.

Zionism began in the late 1800s as a nationalist movement among European Jews who advocated forming a Jewish national state in Palestine. Those were the days when Palestine was part of a decaying Ottoman Empire. Under the leadership of David Ben Gurion and the money provided by the French Jewish banker Baron Edmond de Rothschild, the Zionists systematically began colonizing Palestine. The Hovevei Zion, or the Lovers of Zion, were responsible for the creation of 20 new Jewish settlements in Palestine between 1870 and 1897. Continuing their colonization efforts, they built agricultural settlements at strategic locations throughout Palestine on the land bought from the Arabs. Those settlements would form the contours of the future Jewish state. Not only this, they also created the framework of two well-organized and trained paramilitary organizations- Haganah and Palmach, a labour movement, and an educational system. Resultantly, in 1948, the Zionists possessed all the institutions needed for the establishment of a modern nation-state. On the other side, the Palestinians were a disorganized people, without a visionary leadership.

The UN, in 1947, voted for the partition of Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state. Jerusalem was to have the status of an international city. Whereas the Arab states rejected the UN plan, Jews accepted it (as a stop-gap measure, as they eyed the whole of Palestine). The state of Israel was proclaimed in May 1948 and was immediately attacked by armies of its Arab neighbors. Only Trans- Jordan had a British-trained army which, under Glubb Pasha, its British commander, could take on the far better-trained Haganah and Stern Gang, and occupy the West Bank of the river Jordan and East Jerusalem.

After the 1948 war, King Hussain, despite Jordan’s limited resources, rehabilitated the Palestinians in the West Bank. However, the Egyptian-controlled Gaza Strip, under Nasser’s rule, remained in turmoil. Nasser exploited the Palestinians to gain political mileage and led the Arabs into the catastrophic 1967 war with Israel. As a result of this war, Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. Today, Israel has its teeth in the entire formerly British-mandated Palestine. The Palestinians, under the influence of the semi-illiterate and inept Arab leadership, had missed their first chance to have a state of their own.

Initially, the Israelis were confused about what to do with the captured territories. They had not expected such a huge military victory. It is said that Moshe Dayan, on entering East Jerusalem after it had fallen to the Israeli army, remarked, “Who needs this Vatican!” Levi Eshkol, Israel’s Prime Minister, offered negotiations with the Arabs. He said he was waiting for a telephone call from the Arab leaders. The call never came. 

As the time passed, the Israeli stance hardened. They started building new settlements all over the occupied territories. As for Moshe Dayan’s “Vatican”, they expanded East Jerusalem further east to create a huge Jewish salient well into the West Bank and declared the unified Jerusalem as Israel’s ‘eternal’ capital. The Palestinians, thanks to the Arab leaders, had missed their second chance. The Palestinians got their third chance in 1978 when the Camp David Accords were negotiated between Egypt and Israel. Palestine Liberation Organization, along with the rest of the Arab leadership, boycotted the talks.

As a result of the accords, the Sinai Peninsula returned to Egypt. As for the Palestinians, Egypt and Israel agreed that,  to ensure a peaceful and orderly transfer of authority, and taking into account the security concerns of all the parties, there should be transitional arrangements for the West Bank and Gaza for a period not exceeding five years. To provide full autonomy to the inhabitants, under these arrangements the Israeli military government and its civilian administration will be withdrawn as soon as a self-governing authority has been freely elected by the inhabitants of these areas to replace the existing military government. The fate of Jerusalem was deliberately excluded from this agreement.

This was not the comprehensive peace that Kissinger, Ford, Carter, or Sadat had in mind during the previous American presidential transition. Yet, it could have been a beginning point for fruitful future negotiations. Because of its rejection by the rest of the Arab leadership, the Camp David provisions relating to the Palestinians were later interpreted differently by Israel, Egypt, and the United States. The Palestinians had lost their third chance also.

We come to the Oslo Accords. These are a set of agreements between the Government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; and the Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba, Egypt, in 1995. The Oslo Accords marked the start of the Oslo Process, a peace process aimed at achieving a peace treaty based on United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 and fulfilling the "right of the Palestinian people to self-determination." The Oslo process started after secret negotiations in Oslo, resulting in the recognition by the PLO of the State of Israel and the recognition by Israel of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people and as a partner in negotiations.

The Oslo Accords created a Palestinian Authority tasked with limited self-governance of parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip; and acknowledged the PLO as Israel's partner in permanent-status negotiations about remaining questions. The most important questions relate to the borders of Israel and Palestine, Israeli settlements, the status of Jerusalem, Israel's military presence in and control over remaining territories after Israel recognizes Palestinian autonomy, and the Palestinian right of return. The Oslo Accords, however, did not create a Palestinian state.

If we look at the Camp David and Oslo Accords, these provided less to the Palestinians than what was promised to them in the 1948 UNSC resolution. Presently, the Israelis are not prepared to grant the Palestinians even the rights that were promised them in the Oslo Accord. What the Israelis offer boils down to: -

·        A non-state which would be a hotchpotch of Palestinian enclaves separated from each other by Israeli settlements.

·        This Palestinian non-state will be surrounded by Israel from all sides.

·        It will not have its sovereign airspace or maritime boundary.

·        Palestinians will have limited municipal jurisdiction in these Bantustans (enclaves), but Israel will have a military presence even in the enclaves.

·        The water sources in the enclaves will be under Israeli control.

·        Jerusalem, cutting deep into the West Bank, will remain as Israel’s capital.

 

Saleem Akhtar Malik

2 November 2018