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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 May 1999 Issue No. 429 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 May 1999 Issue No. 429
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Books Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The lesser evil?
A final and comprehensive settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict cannot be held hostage to the results of the general elections to be held in Israel on Monday. Peace is not a luxury that can be delayed until the right-wing extremists in Israel realise that Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese living under racist occupation are human beings entitled to equal rights.Only strong Arab and international pressure can produce the required results. Without such pressure in 1991, the peace process would not have started because of the intransigence and narrow-minded views of former Likud leader Yitzhak Shamir. The Arabs were also in a strong position at the time, since the United States needed their backing to preserve the unity of the international alliance against Iraq.
Nearly 10 years later, the peace process is clinically dead, and there is little hope that it will recover even if Labour leader Ehud Barak wins the elections. For most Palestinians, Barak is little different from Binyamin Netanyahu: the first is ready to discuss giving Palestinians less than 50 per cent of their occupied land, while the extremist Likud leader thinks that the use of force can "lower Palestinian expectations" and oblige them to accept even less than the little they have now.
Both Barak and Netanyahu agree on the "crucial points": No to full Israeli withdrawal from all Arab territories occupied in 1967, regardless of what Security Council resolutions say; no to recognition of East Jerusalem as the future capital of the Palestinian state; and no to the removal of illegal Jewish settlements from occupied land. Meanwhile, the Arabs are divided and there are virtually no signs of joint action or planning to confront Israel. The last Arab summit was held in Cairo in 1996, and most Arab governments have apparently reached the conclusion that they can win more by negotiating unilaterally with Washington, rather than coordinating their policies. Monday's election in Israel might bring a new prime minister to office, but the results will not change the facts on the ground.
