Acting Like Amateurs

8 December 2003


Geneva Accords Declare Mid-East Peace -- Fighting Continues

A Mid-East peace agreement was signed amid much fanfare and international applause not long ago. Jerusalem was to be shared as the capital city of both Israel and Palestine. The Israelis agreed to live within their pre-1967 borders (more or less), and the Palestinians have given up the right of return. Unfortunately, no one who participated in the signing ceremony matters a damn. Worse, they have probably put off a resolution of the conflict by many years.

International diplomacy is no place for amateurs (which is why President Bush is so widely disparaged), and the authors of this "Geneva Initiative," former Israeli government minister Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian minister Yasser abed Rabbo, are not dilettantes. However, as former professionals, they should know better. What they have done is to undermine the negotiating positions (such as they were) of both Israel and the Palestinian authority. It will be recalled that those two entities have most of the weapons in the area and that it is up to them to opt for peace.

There is little doubt that most people in the region want peace -- however each individual may define it. Yet peace is not something that the hard-liners want. And it only takes a few of them with a few weapons to impose their will on the majority. For them, there is no compromise that is not a sell-out; it matters not if they believe in a greater Israel or a greater Palestine. They are the ones who hold the keys to peace.

Successful negotiations are the result of two or more sides communicating their interests and finding sufficient commonality of purpose to come to an agreement. What the Geneva Abomination has done is enhanced with splits within the negotiating parties. At the best of times, the differences were between Israelis and Palestinians. Now, the Israeli's speak with more than one voice as do the Palestinians. Messrs. Arafat and Sharon now cannot claim that they are the true voice of their people (as was decided the last time they faced their electorates -- and Mr. Arafat is overdue). And if Yossi Beilin and Yasser abed Rabbo legitimately spoke for their people, they wouldn't be former ministers.

There is an irony here in that the deal just signed is probably close to how any final settlement will have to look. But the Israeli right as well as many of the Palestinian factions are not prepared to admit it. Since the latest batch of killing began in September 2000, 2,241 Palestinians and 836 Israelis are reckoned to have died. More bodies are on their way, thanks in part to the well-intentioned foolishness in Geneva.

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