11 - 17 January 2001
Issue No.516
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 11 - 17 January 2001 Issue No.516 |
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Eroding Israeli arrogance
Awham Al-Salam: Sira'at Al-Taswiya wa Hurub Al-Mufawadat (Illusions of Peace. The Struggle for a Settlement and the Battle at the Negotiating Table),Abdel-Khaleq Farouk, Cairo: Dar Al-Kalima, 2000. pp283
Against a backdrop of crisis in attempts to provide a political settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict on both the Palestinian and Syrian tracks, this book, written by an economist and journalist, is a timely effort to span the events that have taken place between the Madrid Conference of October 1991 and the present. In its attempts to assess the performance of both the Arab and the Israeli negotiators, the author sheds light on future perspectives, suggesting, in the course of ten chapters and 283 pages, that the Arab side should adopt a new approach: "the systematic erosion of Israel's conceit and arrogance."
In his first chapter Farouk provides a reading of the current balance of power between the negotiating parties. The Israelis, supported by the United States, dominate strategically, internationally and diplomatically, Farouk argues, pointing to Israel's performance at the Madrid Conference, which broke the diplomatic boycott imposed on Israel by many world powers -- China, India, the former Soviet Union and the countries of the Eastern block, for example. Of course, Israel's position was only strengthened in this regard by the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The Arabs, on the other hand, have appeared to be the weaker party, losing the political and diplomatic support of many European, Asian and African countries due to internal dissension caused by, among other things, inter-Arab conflict in the wake of late President Sadat's visit to occupied Jerusalem in 1977 and regional instability following Iraq's invasion of Iran in 1980 and its occupation of Kuwait in 1990. Such was the regional and international scene on the eve of the initiation of the long process to end the Arab-Israeli conflict in Madrid.
But there have also been other factors involved besides international diplomacy and the balance of power. For example, during the decade 1986-1997, Israel received some 700,000 Jewish immigrants mainly from the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, which for the Arabs meant the loss of any possible demographic superiority. Yet this has been more than made up for by the Palestinian uprising, or Intifada, in the occupied territories, which broke out in December 1987, succeeded in maintaining its momentum for six years, and eroded Israel's moral legitimacy in the eyes of its sympathizers in Europe and in the United States. During these years, Israeli military might, which is said to rank first in the developing world, was turned shamelessly against the Palestinian children, women and old people who had rallied behind the stone-throwing youths who provided, and still provide, the main image of the Intifada. Undoubtedly, the movement drained Israel's forces and damaged its image abroad, so much so that it comes as no surprise to learn that Rabin, the late Israeli prime minister, once exclaimed that he "wished to wake up one morning to learn that Gaza had been drowned in the sea!"
In his second chapter, Farouk focuses on Arab compromise and Israeli strategy, arguing that Israel is more interested in multilateral than in bilateral negotiations. Israel aims to become "integrated" in the region, he says, and to become a partner in regional development projects, whether economic, touristic, or in terms of water resources and agriculture. The David Horowitz Institute at the University of Tel Aviv organsed a large-scale research programme with this in mind for example, and it has issued a report setting out a variety of scenarios regarding Israel's economic, political, agricultural and water relations with its Arab neighbours once peace had been established. Other such thinktanks, both in Israel and in the United States, have been keen to develop similar scenarios, and the term "Middleasternism" has been coined to eliminate any idea of Arab dominance in the region, making room for Turkey and Iran in any new regional framework. Nevertheless, Farouk highlights the importance of bilateral negotiations as a way to force Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories, urging Arab negotiators to decelerate moves towards multilateral action and to tie any advance in this direction to positive achievements on the bilateral level.
Chapter 3 is dedicated to Israeli attempts to focus attention on the details of the peace negotiations and on matters of procedure at the expense of matters of substance in a bid to distract attention, to exhaust the Palestinian negotiators and to gain time in which to build further Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, thus altering the status quo. In the following chapter, which may be the best part of the book, Farouk deals with negotiations on the Syrian track, perceiving the general situation from a new angle. He highlights the importance of the time scale here, contending that Lebanon and Syria have had time on their side, particularly during the war in South Lebanon. However without the support of Iran on the one hand and that of the Lebanese-Palestinian resistance on the other, Syria is in a weak position: it should be remembered that it was the Lebanese-Palestinian resistance that forced Israel to withdraw from Lebanon on 25 May, following its soliciting the aid of some western countries, France in particular, and of the United Nations. This Israeli withdrawal was an unprecedented victory for the Arabs in the Arab-Zionist conflict. Farouk now expects Syrian strategy to shift. Syria, he says, will now turn a blind eye to Palestinian activities in areas under its control and will encourage Palestinian strikes at Israeli military and economic targets within Israel, possibly within the occupied Golan Heights, as a means to recover its territory.
On the question of the post-1991 fragmentation of Iraq and the repercussions of this on the Arab negotiating position, Farouk suggests a number of policies for rescuing Iraq from US, British and Israeli influence and for both maintaining regional equilibrium and for consolidating the Arab negotiating position. This theme of wider regional developments that have impacted on Arab unity and strength is taken up in Chapter 6, which is devoted to a review of Egyptian diplomacy since Sadat's visit to Jerusalem in 1977, taking the story to 1987 when relations were resumed between Egypt and its neighbours. In general, the author is critical of the Egyptian position, accusing Egyptian diplomats of ineffectiveness on the regional scene and of having made statements further compromising the Arab position.
The positive change in Iran's attitude towards Israel since the Iranian Revolution in 1979 is dealt with at length. Farouk is critical of the Arab countries' failure to exploit this change, something which he ascribes to their wish not to strain relations with the US. However, such reluctance unnecessarily weakened the Arab position at one of the most critical stages of the process. Farouk therefore urges a change in policy towards Iran, suggesting one of Arab "positive containment" that would counter the American policy of "double containment" that aims to weaken both Iraq and Iran. This American policy, he says, has had the end result of eroding Arab negotiating power in favour of Israel.
In his last chapter Farouk analyses the Oslo agreement and the respective Palestinian and Israeli motivation in signing it. He highlights the advantages and disadvantages of the instrument to both parties. In general, Farouk's argument throughout the book is that the Arabs should adopt what he calls a new negotiating approach aimed at eroding Israeli arrogance. A joint effort by Egypt and by other Arab countries is needed in this regard, which would act as a sort of a legal, diplomatic, and information resource for the various resistance movements against the continuing Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and of the Golan Heights. This is the new perspective that the book promises in its introduction.
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