Phil's Peace Plan for the Middle East
June 13, 2004 AM/Israel
Premise: I am convinced that the key to winning the "war on terror" cannot begin without forging some kind of peace between the Palestinians and Israelis. It's not a novel idea of course, but it's one that has not been given top priority.
Sharon's Gaza plan is a total smokescreen designed to divert attention away from what he is doing in the West Bank, which is basically a continuation of his occupation plan that he started over 20 years ago. He is making things worse and moving the two sides further away from any kind of reconciliation and hope of long-term security for both peoples.
The US is the only player that can have any kind of meaningful influence on the Israelis and we must stop giving them an unconditional green light. Exacting promises about future behavior is baloney. The Israelis play us for fools. They have a word for it here...Freyer (pron. friar)...which is the underlying operative dynamic in Israeli culture. Since they believe that historically the Jews have been the world's ultimate "Freyers", they will do anything, I repeat, anything to avoid being made someone's freyer, and they will seize any and all opportunities to make freyers of others. Sharon and military ministers are the living embodiment of this untrusting dynamic.
We have to stop believing what they are saying and start paying closer attention to what they are doing. Does anyone in the US government actually believe that intensifiying a 37-year long military occupation, expanding Jewish settlements on Arab land, and building a wall will help improve security for anyone? The Israelis have been building an "Iron Wall" for fifty years and look where it's gotten them. The wall is not for security, that's another Sharon smokescreen. The wall is the latest logical extension of Sharon's 20-year old strategy to take over the Biblical lands of Judea and Sumaria by squeezing the life out of Palestinian Society until they either roll over and die or pack up and move to Chicago, which by the way, would make the Americans the ultimate freyers in this game.
We have to play hardball with them and hold BOTH sides accountable and responsible for what happens. We have to completely dismiss and render ineffectual the fanatics and zealots that spout racist apartheid policies; they are the Israeli equivalent of suicide bombers. We have to align ourselves and support the moderates in Israeli and Palestinian society; those who actually have a vision for peace and a common shared future.
We have to stop swallowing the Israeli narrative that there is nobody to talk to on the other side. We have to talk to both sides and stop playing favorites. We have to set conditions with deadlines or else nothing will get done; anyone worth their salt who ever worked in administration or management knows this lesson well. We have to cut through the anti-Semitic guilt trip that the Israelis lay on everyone who disagrees with their policies. We have to understand that their projected self-image as victims is an anachronism that they use to justify their victimization of others; it blinds them to the reality of their actions and undermines any moral position that they claim. The plain and simply reality is that they are in charge here. They hold all the marbles and play the game by their rules that they change as it suits them.
The Pope said that there are two solutions to the Palestinian/Israeli problem: one is realistic and the other is miraculous. The realistic solution requires Divine Intervention. The miraculous solution requires that both sides come to an agreement on their own.
There is a third solution: someone has to knock heads together and guess who that has to be? Is there anyone in the US government now or on the near horizon capable of doing this? So what are the odds that there will be peace in the Middle East any time soon? You work the numbers....