Middle East Peacebuilding

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Comment by Paul Kortenhoven on April 27, 2009 at 3:44pm

Another realistic editorial on Middle East Peace possibilities...Paul

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April 27, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
Clinton’s Mideast Pirouette
By ROGER COHEN

The sparring between the United States and Israel has begun, and that’s a good thing. Israel’s interests are not served by an uncritical American administration. The Jewish state emerged less secure and less loved from Washington’s post-9/11 Israel-can-do-no-wrong policy.

The criticism of the center-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come from an unlikely source: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She’s transitioned with aplomb from the calculation of her interests that she made as a senator from New York to a cool assessment of U.S. interests. These do not always coincide with Israel’s.

I hear that Clinton was shocked by what she saw on her visit last month to the West Bank. This is not surprising. The transition from Israel’s first-world hustle-bustle to the donkeys, carts and idle people beyond the separation wall is brutal. If Clinton cares about one thing, it’s human suffering.

In fact, you don’t so much drive into the Palestinian territories these days as sink into them. Everything, except the Jewish settlers’ cars on fenced settlers-only highways, slows down. The buzz of business gives way to the clunking of hammers.

The whole desolate West Bank scene is punctuated with garrison-like settlements on hilltops. If you’re looking for a primer on colonialism, this is not a bad place to start.

Most Israelis never see this, unless they’re in the army. Clinton witnessed it. She was, I understand, troubled by the humiliation around her.

Now, she has warned Netanyahu to get off “the sidelines” with respect to Palestinian peace efforts. Remember that the Israeli prime minister and his right-wing Likud party have still not accepted even the theory of a two-state solution.

In House testimony last week, Clinton said: “For Israel to get the kind of strong support it is looking for vis-à-vis Iran, it can’t stay on the sidelines with respect to the Palestinians and the peace efforts. They go hand in hand.”

That was a direct rebuke to comments from Netanyahu aides who told the Washington Post Israel would not move on peace talks until it sees the United States check Iran’s nuclear program and rising regional influence.

Although I don’t agree with the forms of linkage being made by Netanyahu and Clinton between Iran and an Israeli-Palestinian peace — the issue is not how to threaten Iran but how to bring it inside the tent — I agree with both of them that a link exists. At Madrid, at Oslo and at Annapolis, over a 16-year span, attempts were made to advance peace while excluding Iran. That doesn’t work; it won’t work now.

The trick is to usher Israel-Palestine peace efforts and the quest for a U.S.-Iran rapprochement along in parallel.

That’s why it’s so important that Clinton told Netanyahu that he can’t slip away from working for peace — and that means stopping settlements now — by taking an Iran detour.

Clinton also indicated an important shift on Hamas, which the State Department calls a terrorist group. While stressing that no funds would flow to Hamas “or any entity controlled by it,” she argued for keeping American options open on a possible Palestinian unity government between the moderate Fatah and Hamas.

So long as a unity government meets three conditions — renounces violence, recognizes Israel’s right to exist and abides by past agreements — the United States would be prepared to deal with it, including on $900 million in proposed aid, Clinton indicated. Washington does business with a Lebanese government in which Hezbollah controls 11 of 30 seats, although Hezbollah is also deemed a terrorist group.

Such a changed U.S. policy makes a lot more sense than the previous one, which insisted on Hamas itself — rather than any Palestinian unity government — meeting the three conditions. No peace can be made by pretending Hamas does not exist, which is why advancing Palestinian unity must be a U.S. priority.

This sensible shift will anger Israel, although it deals indirectly with Hamas through Egypt. Israel’s de jure stand on Hamas — that it must recognize Israel before any talks begin — is wildly at odds with Israel’s de facto methodology since 1948.

So it’s a week in which I cheer Clinton, although her reference to “crippling sanctions” against Iran if the proposed rapprochement fails was a mistake. Sanctions haven’t worked and won’t.

Tehran will not come to the table if it sees Obama’s extended hand as just a deceptive prelude to “crippling” measures. My advice to Tehran: watch what Obama says. He’s driving Iran policy.

Obama’s doing it in a way that means the Israeli-American friction evident in Clinton’s remarks will be a theme of his first year in office. As Lee Hamilton, the president of the Woodrow Wilson Center, told me: “Initiatives are underway that show the United States is going to have some major differences with Israel.”

He also said Netanyahu is “a little more flexible than maybe he’s given credit for.”

Netanyahu as Begin the peacemaker? It’s not impossible. Nor is Obama to Tehran. Provided the president pushes on the two fronts at once.

Comment by Paul Kortenhoven on January 22, 2009 at 2:58pm

Here is an editorial from the NYTimes written by Muammur Qaddafi, President of Libya. It is well written and surprisingly balanced. ...definitely worth a read. Paul


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January 22, 2009
Op-Ed Contributor
The One-State Solution
By MUAMMAR QADDAFI

Tripoli, Libya

THE shocking level of the last wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence, which ended with this weekend’s cease-fire, reminds us why a final resolution to the so-called Middle East crisis is so important. It is vital not just to break this cycle of destruction and injustice, but also to deny the religious extremists in the region who feed on the conflict an excuse to advance their own causes.

But everywhere one looks, among the speeches and the desperate diplomacy, there is no real way forward. A just and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians is possible, but it lies in the history of the people of this conflicted land, and not in the tired rhetoric of partition and two-state solutions.

Although it’s hard to realize after the horrors we’ve just witnessed, the state of war between the Jews and Palestinians has not always existed. In fact, many of the divisions between Jews and Palestinians are recent ones. The very name “Palestine” was commonly used to describe the whole area, even by the Jews who lived there, until 1948, when the name “Israel” came into use.

Jews and Muslims are cousins descended from Abraham. Throughout the centuries both faced cruel persecution and often found refuge with one another. Arabs sheltered Jews and protected them after maltreatment at the hands of the Romans and their expulsion from Spain in the Middle Ages.

The history of Israel/Palestine is not remarkable by regional standards — a country inhabited by different peoples, with rule passing among many tribes, nations and ethnic groups; a country that has withstood many wars and waves of peoples from all directions. This is why it gets so complicated when members of either party claims the right to assert that it is their land.

The basis for the modern State of Israel is the persecution of the Jewish people, which is undeniable. The Jews have been held captive, massacred, disadvantaged in every possible fashion by the Egyptians, the Romans, the English, the Russians, the Babylonians, the Canaanites and, most recently, the Germans under Hitler. The Jewish people want and deserve their homeland.

But the Palestinians too have a history of persecution, and they view the coastal towns of Haifa, Acre, Jaffa and others as the land of their forefathers, passed from generation to generation, until only a short time ago.

Thus the Palestinians believe that what is now called Israel forms part of their nation, even were they to secure the West Bank and Gaza. And the Jews believe that the West Bank is Samaria and Judea, part of their homeland, even if a Palestinian state were established there. Now, as Gaza still smolders, calls for a two-state solution or partition persist. But neither will work.

A two-state solution will create an unacceptable security threat to Israel. An armed Arab state, presumably in the West Bank, would give Israel less than 10 miles of strategic depth at its narrowest point. Further, a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would do little to resolve the problem of refugees. Any situation that keeps the majority of Palestinians in refugee camps and does not offer a solution within the historical borders of Israel/Palestine is not a solution at all.

For the same reasons, the older idea of partition of the West Bank into Jewish and Arab areas, with buffer zones between them, won’t work. The Palestinian-held areas could not accommodate all of the refugees, and buffer zones symbolize exclusion and breed tension. Israelis and Palestinians have also become increasingly intertwined, economically and politically.

In absolute terms, the two movements must remain in perpetual war or a compromise must be reached. The compromise is one state for all, an “Isratine” that would allow the people in each party to feel that they live in all of the disputed land and they are not deprived of any one part of it.

A key prerequisite for peace is the right of return for Palestinian refugees to the homes their families left behind in 1948. It is an injustice that Jews who were not originally inhabitants of Palestine, nor were their ancestors, can move in from abroad while Palestinians who were displaced only a relatively short time ago should not be so permitted.

It is a fact that Palestinians inhabited the land and owned farms and homes there until recently, fleeing in fear of violence at the hands of Jews after 1948 — violence that did not occur, but rumors of which led to a mass exodus. It is important to note that the Jews did not forcibly expel Palestinians. They were never “un-welcomed.” Yet only the full territories of Isratine can accommodate all the refugees and bring about the justice that is key to peace.

Assimilation is already a fact of life in Israel. There are more than one million Muslim Arabs in Israel; they possess Israeli nationality and take part in political life with the Jews, forming political parties. On the other side, there are Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Israeli factories depend on Palestinian labor, and goods and services are exchanged. This successful assimilation can be a model for Isratine.

If the present interdependence and the historical fact of Jewish-Palestinian coexistence guide their leaders, and if they can see beyond the horizon of the recent violence and thirst for revenge toward a long-term solution, then these two peoples will come to realize, I hope sooner rather than later, that living under one roof is the only option for a lasting peace.

Muammar Qaddafi is the leader of Libya.

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Comment by Marc Peterson on January 19, 2009 at 3:26pm

Well, Paul. I try to admit when I've been wrong and I am very surprised and thankful that the BBC let this interview air since it shows Israel in a fair light.

Comment by Marc Peterson on January 17, 2009 at 9:04pm

Hi Paul, I too pray that this cease-fire works but since it is only one-sided I'm not real hopeful. Hamas is terrorizing the Palestinian people and placing them in the cross-hairs amongst other war crimes so they will just use this to reload, unfortunately. I will look for that story on the BBC, I saw it among 100 stories I read today but I think I can find it. I don't think the Arab media will show it, but maybe Israeli media. Oh, sorry about the acronym, MSM= Mainstream media.

Comment by Paul Kortenhoven on January 17, 2009 at 5:53pm

Hi Marc

I just saw your post...what is the MSM and where did you hear that BBC offices were taken over last night by Hamas. Even the Arab news sources say nothing about this and I can not believe that the BBC would not report this. Let me know OK?

Thanks, Paul

Comment by Paul Kortenhoven on January 17, 2009 at 5:50pm

Praise the Lord! This just came in on the AP wire service> Pray that it was continue.

Israel declares unilateral Gaza cease-fire
6 mins ago

JERUSALEM – Israel declared a unilateral cease-fire in its 22-day offensive that turned Gaza neighborhoods into battlegrounds and dealt a stinging blow to the Islamic militants of Hamas, but the government said its troops will stay in the Palestinian territory for now.

Shortly before top leaders voted for the cease-fire at an emergency security meeting, Hamas threatened to keep fighting until Israeli troops leave Gaza.

"Our goals as they were set at the beginning of the operation were fully realized, and even more than that," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said after the 12-member Security Cabinet voted to halt the assault.

"Hamas was hit hard, in its military arms and in its government institutions," Olmert said. "If the fire stops entirely, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will weigh pulling out of Gaza at a time that befits us. If not, the IDF will continue to act to defend our residents."

More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli offensive began on Dec. 27, according to Palestinian and U.N. officials. At least 13 Israelis have also died.

The offensive will stop at 2 a.m. local time (7 p.m. EST), Olmert said.

Comment by Marc Peterson on January 17, 2009 at 10:32am

Paul, below is one more reason that I take any BBC reports from Gaza with a large bag of salt...

"Hamas took over the first floor of the building that the BBC offices in Gaza last night and fired rockets from there, trapping the journalists above. Despite the fact that their reporters have now escaped the building, the BBC has so far not said anything about this(?).

There has been pervasive intimidation of the MSM in Gaza, which is one of the reasons that there were none there when the hostilities broke out. The last journalist resident in Gaza, Alan Johnston, now the editor in chief, only survived because he was so openly pro-Palestinian, and even he got kidnapped and brutalized.

Comment by Paul Kortenhoven on January 16, 2009 at 6:53pm

Here is the latest BBC article on a possible cease fire in Gaza tomorrow 17 January.

BBC NEWS
Israel 'set for ceasefire vote'

Israeli ministers are set to vote on a unilateral ceasefire proposal at the weekend, Israeli officials say, amid signs of diplomatic movement on Gaza.

The meeting, said to be scheduled for Saturday, comes amid increasing signs of progress on the diplomatic front.

Earlier Israel and the US signed a deal to halt the smuggling of arms into Gaza - a key Israeli demand.

High-level talks were held in Cairo and Washington as Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza continued for a 21st day.

The BBC's Christian Fraser, who finally got into the Gaza Strip from Egypt for the first time on Friday, says the situation for Palestinian families in Rafah is tough.

Our correspondent says that while there have been targeted Israeli strikes in the town, there is much collateral damage as well, with a housing block and a playground among the sites affected.

Israel has been bombing heavily along the border area, with the aim of destroying tunnels running beneath the border between Gaza and Egypt.

Conditions for Palestinian families seeking refuge in a UN-run school in Rafah are very difficult, our correspondent says. Food and electricity supplies are limited and there is no running water.

'Vital component'

Israeli military officials said 40 overnight air strikes on Gaza targeted smuggling tunnels, rocket launching points, weapons stores and a militants' training camp.

The bodies of 23 people were later recovered in the Tel al-Hawa district of Gaza City, medics said.

Militants also continue to fire rockets from Gaza into Israel. About 10 were launched on Friday but caused no injuries, the Israeli army said.

Asked on Israel's Channel 10 TV station if the country would act unilaterally to end the conflict, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said it was down to the security cabinet to make that decision.

Israel would have to resume its offensive if Hamas continued to fire rockets, she said.

Speaking at the signing of the deal on arms smuggling with Israel, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she hoped it would ensure Gaza could "never again be used as a launch pad" for attacks on Israel.

The supply of arms to Hamas and other groups in Gaza was a "direct cause of the current hostilities", Ms Rice said.

"It is therefore incumbent upon us in the international community to prevent the rearmament of Hamas so that a ceasefire will be durable and fully respected," she said, adding that she was also concerned to end the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.

Ms Livni, in Washington, described the memorandum of understanding as "a vital component for the cessation of hostilities".

'Final act'

Meanwhile, talks have continued in Cairo between Israeli and Egyptian officials on reaching a ceasefire agreement.

Hamas was also invited back to Cairo on Friday for more talks, an official told the al-Jazeera network.

After meeting Palestinian Authority leaders in the West Bank, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel to end the fighting.

"I would like to see an immediate ceasefire," he said, adding that a deal between Israel and Hamas to stop the conflict might be possible within the next few days.

Israel has said any ceasefire must be "durable and sustainable".

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said they would not accept Israeli conditions for a ceasefire.

Hamas has its own requirements for a ceasefire, including the withdrawal of Israeli forces within a week and the opening of the border crossings.

Earlier, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told the BBC that Israel wanted a prompt end to the violence.

"The diplomacy now is in high gear. Hopefully we're entering the final act. We want this to be over as soon as possible," he said.

Meanwhile, a teenager reportedly died during anti-Israeli protests in the West Bank on Friday.

He was killed as violence broke out between demonstrators and Israeli soldiers in the West Bank town of Hebron, reports said. Clashes were also reported at the Qalandya checkpoint.

The Israeli army had earlier closed all access to the West Bank for the next two days following a call by Hamas for all Palestinians to observe what it called a day of wrath after Friday prayers.

The Palestinian Authority issued a similar call to action to followers of Fatah, a rival Palestinian faction to Hamas.

In Gaza City, tens of thousands of mourners took to the streets for the funeral of a top Hamas leader, Said Siyam, who died when his brother's house was bombed on Thursday.

The senior UN official in Gaza, John Ging, meanwhile described as "total nonsense" claims by Israel that militants had fired from a UN compound shelled by Israel on Thursday.

Health officials in Hamas-controlled Gaza say at least 1,155 Palestinians have been killed and 5,015 wounded since Israel launched an operation on 27 December to end rocket attacks against its people.

Thirteen Israelis - three of them civilians - have died, while 233 soldiers have been wounded, the Israeli army says.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7834255.stm

Published: 2009/01/16 21:29:43 GMT

© BBC MMIX

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Comment by Paul Kortenhoven on January 6, 2009 at 6:51pm

Communication for Peace

Last Sunday, our pastor preached a wonderful sermon on the gospel of John chapter one. He used an illustration I will never forget: two little girls in Nigeria grew up as friends, one a Christian the other a Muslim. They lived next door to each other and did everything together. They loved each other and were indeed very best friends. Unfortunately, a riot occurred in their city and Muslims burned churches while Christians burned mosques and many people were killed.
After this violence both sets of parents forbad their daughters to speak to each ever again. But they lived next door and stood at windows opposite each other. They looked at each other, did not speak, and developed their own language of signs, gestures and pantomime and their friendship continued. It was a language of friendship and peace.
I believe that we human beings have to learn a new language; not English, or Arabic or Hebrew; not a language of might, of superiority, of racism, of wealth, but a language of vulnerability, a language of our smallness and of needing each other no matter what. The Word did become flesh, God became a man. The eternal became temporal for a while and taught us…. God’s communication plan in action. And what were the lessons that Jesus taught?
He taught that total power must become total dependence, that anger can be- come calmness, that obsession must give up its object, that violence must cease to be an option, that peace turns enemies into good neighbors far better than walls and fences can and that this kind of change comes from the inside and cannot be forced on any of God’ people…. God’s diplomacy if you will.
Christians For Middle East Peace wrote a note to me (and many others) today asking us to write to our congress people . I quote it because it is so true and so vitally important to ending Israeli attacks on Gaza and Hamas reprisal rockets to Sderot and Ashkelon and Beersheba.
“As an American Christian, I deplore the tragic loss of life of civilians caught in the escalating violence in Gaza and southern Israel and care deeply about the welfare of both Israelis and Palestinians who are suffering and living in fear.

I ask that if and when the Senator/Representative makes a statement about the current crisis, he/she will express support for strong U.S. diplomatic leadership, together with international partners, to achieve an immediate, comprehensive cease-fire that:
• ends the escalating violence between Israel and Hamas;
• addresses the humanitarian situation - including an opening of the border crossings that provides relief for the people of Gaza and meets Israel's security needs; and
• leads to concrete steps toward a two-state peace agreement - the best hope for long-term stability and security for Israel and the Palestinians.”
There is not now and never will there be a military or terrorist road to peace in Israel, the West Bank or Gaza or any region of the Middle East. Recent history is very clear about this. The history of this region for the last 100 years definitely supports such a conclusion.
May God bless every effort from every person and every land to end the horror of war in Gaza and terror in all parts of the Middle east. Write your representative and senator in Washington today and use the quote above as your message.

Paul Kortenhoven

Comment by Paul Kortenhoven on January 4, 2009 at 10:08am

This is a realistic look at the Israeli-Gaza violence from the BBC today. Please pray for peace and reason on both sides. Paul

BBC NEWS
Brown urges end to Gaza violence

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has renewed his call for an urgent ceasefire as Israeli troops and Hamas clash in the Gaza Strip.

Mr Brown also used an interview on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show to urge Arab nations to help stop the conflict.

Mr Brown's call came as it emerged that Israeli ground troops had entered Gaza after more than a week of violence.

On Saturday thousands demonstrated against the military action. Israel says it is protecting its citizens.

The Israeli government has said it is defending its people from Palestinian rocket attacks, but the UK government has repeatedly called for a ceasefire.

In the interview with Andrew Marr, the prime minister said: "What we have to to do almost immediately is work harder than we have done for an immediate ceasefire."

He repeated that this included Hamas ending its rocket attacks against Israel.

Mr Brown said any solution would have to include stopping the supply of arms into the region and ensuring international monitoring.

He said he had spoken to the Israeli prime minister on three occasions in the past few days and had attempted to talk to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and others in the region about what could be done to stop the violence immediately.

"The blame game can continue afterwards.

"But this dangerous moment, I think, requires us to act.

"There are talks that are going on that would take us beyond the immediate violence into the sort of solutions we want but the very events we see emphasise what the real challenge is - Israel needs to be secure, Palestine needs to be viable."

Mr Brown said Arab powers had to apply pressure to ensure that illegal tunnels used for supplying Gaza with arms were closed.

He said: "I sense that the Arab powers are as worried as we are about the turn of events."

He said that during the next few days deals had to be agreed between the powers, the UK, the US and the EU which would result in a ceasefire.

Intensive efforts

"We should get an agreement on arms trafficking and we should get an agreement on the crossings," he said.

Mr Brown insisted pressure had been placed on Israel and that the country understood this.

Earlier UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said "intensive" diplomatic efforts to find a solution were continuing as the crisis affected the "whole world".

Meanwhile a spokesman for former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair told the BBC the Middle East peace envoy is in Jerusalem.

He said: "He's been working on the issue from the start.

"As Quartet Representative, Mr Blair continues to be engaged on this current situation."

He said the former prime minister is due to meet Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Ehud Barak and had already spoken to other international leaders.

'Sustainable ceasefire'

Backbench Labour MP, John McDonnell, has demanded Parliament return early from its recess to discuss the escalating situation in Gaza.

Calling for "decisive action", he said: "We are witnessing a bloody massacre in Gaza and yet the UK government has stood by and simply repeated the usual ritual, ineffective statements of condemnation."

Shadow foreign minister David Lidington said the ground invasion was "a serious development that is bound to lead to yet more loss of life".

"The rocket attacks by Hamas on Israeli cities are acts of terrorism and must cease if there is to be a chance of restoring peace.

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Ed Davey called Israel's incursion into Gaza "a dangerous development" which would not lead to a ceasefire anytime soon.

"This appalling conflict will entrench both sides far deeper in their hostility and is exactly the wrong way to obtain the peace both Israelis and Palestinians need.

"Britain and the EU in particular must make it clear to both sides that their failure to agree a ceasefire could jeopardise the support and co-operation they will need in the future."

In the UK, demonstrators centred their attention on the Israeli embassy in London with up to 5,000 involved in a stand-off with police. Fifteen people were arrested.

The UN says that since the start of the violence a week ago, 470 people have been killed - about 25% of them civilians - including at least 34 children.

Four Israelis - three civilians and one soldier - have been killed by rockets fired into Israel from Gaza.

Both sides have so far resisted international calls for a ceasefire.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7810260.stm

Published: 2009/01/04 11:42:29 GMT

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