Ruthie Blum | Friday January 3, 2014
When
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Tel Aviv on Thursday for
the 10th time in a five-month period, he was met with the news of a
severe deterioration in the medical condition of former Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon. Though Sharon has been comatose for the past eight years,
his kidneys began to fail two days ago. According to his doctors, this
means that his other organs are soon to follow suit. It appears that
Sharon, the man whose physical, military and political strength have
been legendary throughout his lifetime, is now finally on his deathbed.
At a joint press conference
with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon his arrival, and prior to a
private meeting later in the evening at which Defense Minister Moshe
Ya'alon and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni were also present, Kerry
conveyed his sympathy to the Sharon family and the people of Israel.
"We remember his [Sharon's]
contributions, sacrifices he made to ensure the survival and the
well-being of Israel," Kerry said, before launching into a mini-speech
about the "framework" agreement he had brought with him.
Kerry's message could not have
been more sadly ironic, given the circumstances of his desperate shuttle
diplomacy, aimed at getting Israel to make extensive territorial and
security concessions on behalf of Palestinian statehood. It was Sharon,
after all, whose understanding that it would be a cold day in hell
before any genuine agreement could be reached with the Palestinians
caused him to undertake a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and northern
Samaria. This disastrous move involved the evacuation of every last Jew
from those areas. It was the response of the war-weary ex-general (with a
late-in-life desire to be praised by the press after years of
vilification) to the daily slaughter of Israeli civilians by Hamas,
Islamic Jihad and other terrorists.
This suicide-bombing rampage --
known by Arabs as the Aqsa Intifada and internationally as the Second
Intifada -- was more aptly and accurately called the Oslo War. It was
waged, after all, in response to the "peace process" of the same name.
The result of Sharon's "disengagement" was a Hamas landslide victory in Gaza and years of missile barrages into Israeli cities.
Sharon's
incapacitation in 2006 ushered Ehud Olmert into the prime minister's
seat. Olmert officially became prime minister shortly thereafter,
through general elections. Like his predecessor, Olmert had a plan to
withdraw from territory -- this time, from most of the West Bank (Judea
and Samaria) -- which he called "realignment." Unlike Sharon, though,
Olmert believed this could and should be accomplished through a peace
deal.
Yeah, right.
Under
his premiership, Israel was forced to go to war against Hezbollah in
Lebanon in 2006 (after rockets rained down on Israeli cities in the
north), and against Hamas in Gaza in 2008.
In between the two unsuccessful
and unfinished military operations, Olmert participated in the
Annapolis Conference -- yet another U.S.-brokered attempt at bringing
Israel and the Palestinians together to engage in a peace process.
Olmert was happy to sign the
"roadmap to a two-state solution" drawn up at the conference; he began
to court Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to offer him huge
concessions, including most of the West Bank and east Jerusalem. But
Abbas gave him the cold shoulder.
It was not for nothing that a
piece of graffiti spray-painted on a wall in Jerusalem read: "Wake up,
Arik [Sharon], Olmert's in a coma!"
In 2009, Netanyahu became prime minister when Barack
Obama entered the Oval Office. Two days after his inauguration, Obama
appointed George Mitchell as U.S. special envoy for Middle East peace.
Mitchell had served in a similar capacity in Northern Ireland from 1995
to 2001, under President Bill Clinton; he is credited as the chief
architect of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Mitchell was delighted to be
entrusted by Obama with Middle East peace. "...[T]here is no such thing
as a conflict that can't be ended," he announced. "Conflicts are
created, conducted and sustained by human beings. They can be ended by
human beings."
A couple of weeks later, former
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton attended the Herzliya
Conference on "The Balance of Israel's National Security and
Resilience." During an interview I conducted with him at the time for
The Jerusalem Post, Bolton practically guffawed at Mitchell's statement.
"The Good Friday Agreement did
not solve the Northern Ireland conflict...," Bolton said. "It was solved
by the British army thrashing the IRA... [and] what was negotiated ...
were the terms of surrender. That hasn't happened in the Gaza Strip or
the West Bank."
Indeed.
Two years later, with nothing to show for his efforts but increased incitement to terrorism in the PA, Mitchell resigned.
Now it is Kerry who is
determined to get Israel and the PA to negotiate peace. It is his turn
to realize that this is not possible with Abbas unwilling to compromise
on anything. But the secretary of state would die before saying so.
Instead, seeing that the April deadline that he had set for a deal is
fast approaching, he has come up with a "framework that will provide the
agreed guidelines for permanent status negotiations. This will take
time ... but ... would be a significant breakthrough. ... It would
create the fixed, defined parameters by which the parties would then
know where they are going and what the end result can be. It would
address all of the core issues that we have been addressing since day
one, including borders, security, refugees, Jerusalem, mutual
recognition, and the end of conflict and of all claims."
In other words, the deadline
for a nonexistent peace process even to begin has been extended
indefinitely. You know, until the next war. One would have to be
comatose -- or a member of the Obama administration -- not to wake up
and brace for it.
Ruthie Blum is that author of "To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the 'Arab Spring.'"
Guest Comment:
Israelis have forgotten that the suicide-bombing
rampage -- known by Arabs as the Aqsa Intifada and internationally as the
Second Intifada -- was more aptly and accurately called the Oslo War. It was
waged, after all, in response to the "peace process" of Oslo.
הישראלים שכחו שפצצות ההתאבדות – שלהן קראו הערבים האינטיפדה של אל-אקצא ובעולם
כאינתיפאדה השנייה – נקראו יותר בדיוק ובצדק מלחמת אוסלו. זה אחרי הכל התנהל בתגובה
ל-"תהליך השלום" של אוסלו.
אם רוצים להשוות סכסוכים, הסכסוך לאורך שנים בין בריטניה לאירלנד הסתיים כשהצבא הבריטי הביס את הצבא
הרפובליקני האירי [ו] מה שהמשא ומתן כלל [עם אמריקה
כעדה] ... היו
תנאי הכניעה המלאה. לא
משנה כמה מבצעים צבאיים התרחשו,
[הכניעה] זה לא קרה ברצועה עזה או בגדה המערבית.
ג'ון קרי הוא
הדיפלומט האמריקה הנוכחי
שלכד את עצמו ב-"תהליך
השלום" בין הערבים-פלסטינים וישראל. וזה
תורו להבין שעסק
של "שלום" זה לא אפשרי
כי אבו מאזן אינו מוכן להתפשר על דבר שהוא. אבל שר החוץ האמריקאי מעדיף למות מאשר להודות לטיפשותו. קרי כבר רואה
כי המועד האחרון, באפריל הקרוב, להגיע להסכם בין הצדדים, שאתו הוא הציב
לעצמו מתקרב במהירות,
אז עכשיו המועד האחרון ל-"תהליך השלום" הזה, שמתחילתו
לא היה קיים, הוארך ללא הגבלת זמן ....
עד למלחמה הבאה. אחד
צריך להיות מחוסר הכרה [אריאל שרון] - או חבר
של ממשל אובמה - לא
להתעורר ולהיות מוכן לזה.
Nurit G.
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