The level of misunderstanding and sheer ignorance about the nature of the Arab- Israeli conflict never ceases to amaze. With rare exception, the US sends mediators and ambassadors to Israel who have preconceived notions that have no basis in reality or whose apparent vested interests should disqualify them from assuming these roles. Two rare exceptions are Ambassadors David Friedman and Mike Huckabee, who have a profound knowledge of the history of the dispute and why it remains intractable.
They have no illusions that the core of the problem is about Israel’s right to exist, not about land. It is a religious war, which the Arabs make clear but which is seldom, if ever, mentioned by the so-called Middle East experts the US sends to the region.
How can there be peace when:
(1) Article 15 of the Hamas Covenant of August 1988 states that the destruction of Israel is not negotiable; it is a religious imperative.
“The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised…. It is necessary to instill in the minds of the Moslem generations that the Palestinian problem is a religious problem, and should be dealt with on this basis.”
The same question should be asked of the Palestinian Authority. The justification for refusing to recognize Israel is found in Articles 15 and 19 of the Palestinian National Charter of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Article 15: “The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national (qawmi) duty and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine.”
Article 19: “The partition of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment of the state of Israel are entirely illegal, regardless of the passage of time, because they were contrary to the will of the Palestinian people and to their natural right in their homeland, and inconsistent with the principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations; particularly the right to self-determination.”
The Search for the Elusive Moderate Leaders
The belief that all one needs to resolve the conflict is to find moderate Arab leaders is equally delusional. The search for the elusive moderate Arab leaders is not new. In June 1938, Sir John Shuckburgh of the Colonial Office was asked about Arab moderates. Shuckburgh recalled the saying of the late Lord John Morley, that, in times of unrest, “moderates are always at a discount.” The condition in Palestine, Shuckburgh noted, “was unhappily one in which extremists held the limelight and moderates had little influence.”
Alec S. Kirkbride, District Commissioner of the Galilee and Acre District, added that there were a number of moderates who were prepared to cooperate with the British, even though they disagreed with the British mandatory policy. It was “impossible” to estimate their exact number, however, because “they were naturally disinclined to come into the open.”
The Palestinian Arab Congress explained the difficulty of finding moderates when it told the League of Nations, “It is a gross error to believe that Arab and Jew may come to an understanding if only each of them exchanges his coat of extremism for another of moderation. When the principles underlying two movements do clash, it is futile to expect their meeting halfway.”
The inability of Israel to accept this painful truth has led its leaders to sign disastrous agreements costing many Israeli lives and has not brought peace any closer.
In fact, it has diminished the chances of achieving peace because Israel continues to reward terrorists by retreating from lands where Jews once lived and by exchanging large numbers of Arab prisoners for Israeli soldiers languishing in Arab prisons.
That the Israelis are exhausted by endless fighting is not surprising. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed this desperation when he said, “We are tired of fighting, we are tired of being courageous, we are tired of winning, we are tired of defeating our enemies, we want [to]… to live in an entirely different environment of relations with our enemies. We want them to be our friends, our partners, our good neighbors.”
As long as Arab political and religious leaders continue to preach hate, teach their children to become suicide bombers, fire missiles to force Israelis to abandon their homes and property, savagely murder Jewish men, women, and children, and demand the right of all refugees to “return,” there is no chance for peace.
Israel should stop deluding itself that peace is around the corner. Israeli leaders need to define the objectives of the country, explain why they have a moral, historical, and legal right to the state of Israel, and do whatever it takes to show the Arabs that no amount of terrorism will force them to leave their land.
Only when the Arabs truly understand that the Jews are in Israel to stay can there be a chance for a dialogue. Until then, Israelis are negotiating with themselves and seen by some as “walking like sheep to slaughter.”
*Alex Grobman, PhD, is the senior resident scholar at the John C. Danforth Society, a member of the Council of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, and on the advisory board of the National Christian Leadership Conference of Israel (NCLCI). He has an MA and PhD in contemporary Jewish history from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.