Pardon my cynicism, but the continued, new, or renewed insistence of the United States, European governments, some Israelis, and other hangers-on to pursue negotiations with Palestinians, Syrians, and Iranians strike me as the playthings of children. Think of the performances that elementary school children give for their parents. Aren't they all cute?
Lip service is another appropriate metaphor.
One must aspire to peace, and go through appropriate motions. Correct political aspirations demand it.
Don't hold your breath waiting for positive results.
Why these damning predictions about the efforts of numerous worthies from credible countries, who otherwise do much good for their own citizens and the world at large?
Consider the ideological, religious, and political constraints in all those Muslim countries. They must show unity against us infidels despite internal differences that produce chronic violence among them. And there is no better way to demonstrate unity than to demand all the rights due to Palestinians, and insist that Israel be confined to old boundaries or be made to disappear altogether. Palestinian rights must prevail in Muslim politics despite the civil war now cool, now intense, between Palestinian factions that adds to the inability of Palestinians or other Muslims to think of anything other than proposals that no Israeli government can accept.
When the Egyptian head of the International Atomic Energy Agency finds no indication that Iran is doing anything to develop nuclear weapons, cynics like me are not surprised.
Where is the room for compromise or significant concession on the part of all those believers?
If someone out there sees it, please let me know.
The playacting has gone on for the better part of a century, and will not be any more productive once the new Israeli government takes office. The likely prime minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, is saying that he is tired of the idea of a Palestinian state, long at the focus of hopeless negotiations. His comments have brought tough words from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is sticking with the sanctity of Palestinian statehood. Before long, assuming Bibi does become prime minister, she and others will accuse him of being unreliable. Numerous Israelis already feel that way. He may be leading the country, but it will be difficult listening to him against the history of bluster, back peddling, and denial. And some accusations of unreliability will be no more than expressions of "we don't like what he is saying." All politicians dissemble. It is part of governing in the midst of conflicting demands.
Also interesting will be the scenarios developing if Avigdor Lieberman achieves his aspiration of becoming Foreign Minister. The liberal crowd views him as an uncivilized racist. He looks and sounds like a Russian Mafioso. He is also a settler, proud of living beyond Israel's 1967 boundaries. Imagine him speaking to the General Assembly of the United Nations, and expecting to be received by peers in European capitals. Remind yourselves that criticizing one's looks or manner of speech is not acceptable in polite company. He would be willing to move from his family home in exchange for true peace, but one doubts that he is any more optimistic than the rest of the Israeli majority that tilted right of center in the recent election.
The world is not all bad. Somewhere under the level of political posturing are technocrats and bureaucrats cooperating quietly to make life better for all sides. Israelis, Palestinians, and others meet in one place or another to manage things like sewage, water, crop and animal diseases. Much of this happens with the encouragement and finance of bureaucrats in American and European governments. Arab PhDs and researchers trained in Israeli universities, including one of my own students, are teaching in Palestinian universities. Physicians and patients cross borders to give and receive care. At times the middle- and lower-level Middle Easterners have to stop the good they are doing when the news reaches the media.
Peace is not on the horizon. There will continue to be individual tragedies suffered by people in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Israel will survive. Jews have been polishing their coping skills since biblical times. Arabs will suffer, due largely to their own follies. Westerners will continue to weep, and insist on trying yet again for comprehensive agreements.
Remember Sisyphus, and the rock that would never reach the top of the hill? He was a neighbor.
I welcome comments sent to my e-mail address below.
Ira Sharkansky (Emeritus)
Department of Political Science
Hebrew University
Jerusalem, Israel
Tel: +972-2-532-2725
email: msira@mscc.huji.ac.il