Jerome Segal has contributed an op-ed piece that sees the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state as a way to solve a conflict that has a history of 110 years, more or less, depending on when contentious analysts claim that it started.
Segal begins with the claim that France's foreign minister "has alarmed the Israeli government with his recent statement that 'one can envision the proclamation soon of a Palestinian state, and its immediate recognition by the international community, even before negotiating its borders.'"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/opinion/24iht-edsegal.html?emc=eta1
Not quite. The Israeli government never expresses alarm--or anything else--with one voice. And in this case, neither does France's. Its president came on quickly with a statement that countered his foreign minister. Nicolas Sarkozy favors the creation of a Palestinian state, but only with clear borders. Moreover, the Palestinian leadership has expressed its own reservation about what foreign activists are suggesting. Perhaps they have heard what Israel would do in response to a unilateral declaration.
Segal praises the recently improved Palestinian security forces, and accepts their latest months as proof that they are good enough to protect a new state from its own extremists.
A skeptic might demand a longer period of testing, as well as fewer cases of Palestinian security personnel taking part in drive-by shootings and other acts of terror.
Segal is optimistic that early statehood would defuse Hamas and lead it to recognize Israel, prompt the Palestinians to make concessions to Israel on refugees and other issues, disarm the numerous armed factions within their society, conduct their long delayed elections in an orderly way, with the individuals chosen able to engage in responsive negotiations without inciting violence.
When Segal describes Israel as tone-deaf to Palestinian concerns, one wonders where he has been since 1993, and if he has checked the hearing of Palestinians.
While Palestinians have been learning state craft or skipping that school, Israelis have been building settlements that complicate any effort at defining borders. Should Israelis have forgone settlement possibilities while the Palestinians learned about bargaining? It is a moot question. There are as many Jewish settlements spread across the landscape--and maybe as many Jewish settlers--as there are people like Segal with ideas about a solution.
Segal is a researcher at the University of Maryland, president and founder of The Jewish Peace Lobby. He has been urging creation of a Palestinian state for 30 years. During that time, the idea as moved higher on the agenda, but even more Jews have moved to settlements in the West Bank. Israelis have also been disappointed in responses to their withdrawal of settlements from Gaza.
Segal and others blame Israel for clumsiness in not offering enough, or doing it in a way that ignores Palestinian sensitivities. That may be part of the problem, but so is Palestinians' failure to learn the way of giving as well as taking.
A peace loving Palestinian state is a attractive vision. But it may be nothing more than a topic for overseas politicians and advocates who express themselves and go home.
Ira Sharkansky (Emeritus)
Department of Political Science
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Tel: +972-2-532-2725
Fax +972-2-582-9144
irashark@gmail.com