Category: Politics

 

I remember the excitement on September 13th 1993, when seeing these pictures. The Oslo accords true moment of history. The 2 leaders that fought each other for so many years signed an agreement and shook hands. It was amazing especially when a only a short while before that, there was a law in Israel, forbidding meetings with PLO members.

That opened a very very optimistic period. I was in my teens then and the future looked so bright. Peace negotiations were going on throughout the 90s. A peace treaty with Jordan was signed in 1994. Limited relations with other Arab countries began. The detailed agreement with the Palestinians was signed in May 1994, and another stage was signed in September 1995. In the meantime, the Israeli economy was prospering: Growth rate was around 7% (anualy) and unemployment fell from 11% down to around 5%. On the other hand, there were many terrorist attacks at that time. Suicide bombing began at that era. Many protests cam from the right wing parties and movements. It was very controversial.

November 4th 1995: PM Yitzhak Rabin was murdered. I was there, at was is called now Rabin Square for a big peace rally in support of the government. It came after months of protests and violence from right wing movements. That shock ended my youth and my optimism. I was drafted to the army a few weeks later and everything seemed gloomy. Rabin, the veteran general was gone. He had the trust needed to push such a brave peace process forward.

The following years saw a change of government. Netanyahu’s government kept the peace process alive but slowed down the pace. After that, in 1999 Barak brought new hope. He dragged everyone to Camp David 6 summers ago, but couldn’t reach an agreement. So many words have been spilled on what has happened there. Then the Intifada broke out and this terrible state of conflict has been going on since then. Sharon’s disengagement plan from Gaza that finished just one year and one day ago, brought some hope, but as time passed by, it’s achievements have quite disappeared. Our boys are back in town.

Where are all the leaders now? Rabin was murdered. Stubborn Araft has died in 2004, but his successors aren’t so promising. Clinton has stepped down and gave way to this ignorant, stupid, harmful, miserable failure called Bush. No true leaders are seen around.

But maybe after the war, with a correlation to it or without, the current leaders, inspite being politically weak, can do something. All I am saying, is give peace a chance.

The root of the Israeli Arab conflict is the closest one: the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Since the war broke out, the issues that are related to the conflict are forgotten. The ceasefire that began almost a month ago didn’t help.

At least here, it is still forgotten. Other issues are always higher on the news: the last war of course, the president and justice minister’s sex scandals and other issues. The only interest in Palestinian issues in Israeli mainstream media was with the tabloid story of Suha Arafat’s remarriage. The occupation in the West Bank? Humanitarian crisis and reoccupation in Gaza? Not now.

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is becoming worse. Not everyone has electricity or water over there. Most of the people are unemployed. The lack of funds from the Palestinian Authority to it’s workers is devastating for the poor Palestinian economy.  Israeli soldiers occupy many parts of the strip and the destruction is awful. As long as nothing terrible happens inside Israel (I mean not only Sderot), Gaza strip will stay on the corner of the country, and off the news.

West Bank? The situation there is much better. People there are much richer to begin with. They do have power supply and water. But, the political situation is still preventing them to move freely from village to village. The road blockades have adopted harsher rules. Lines are very long there. The economy there also suffers from the lack of the PAs salaries.

Nowadays, many Israelis are content with the occupation of the West Bank. The places where Israel has control of seem to be quiet. After the retreat from Lebanon 6 years ago, and the disengagement plan just one year ago, many Israeli oppose retreating from more land. So, the occupation of the West Bank is of no concern. I think that the problem is with unilateral steps, not with leaving someone elses land.

A few Israeli bloggers relate to these issues. Even fewer journalists deal with these issues, and their editors don’t place these articles in a high place.

I don’t blame the only the Israeli media. The world doesn’t do much to help out. Palestinian issues are buried deep under lots of other issues.

Don’t the Europeans think that the ongoing conflict could be disturbing also for them? The big Muslim communities in Europe could behave problematically as long as the conflict continues. This could fuel extreme nationalist parties across the continent. This isn’t good for European stability.

America? The conflict affects every American’s pocket, especially at the gas station. The prices of oil are directly affected by the level of flames in the middle east.

The world has many more interests for peace or at least stability in this region.

My biggest concern is for my country’s well being and interests. I am worried about the condition of the Palestinians, although meanwhile it doesn’t affect my life.

It is of my country’s interest to do something. Not only for the Palestinians sake, but for our interests. The current instable situation is bad. Stability will make a great change for our economy and our mood. For many people, the situation seems stable: war is over and nothing bad happens. Is it enough? No, its dangerous! With no agreement, it is just a timeout before another round of violence.

Do we have to wait for a terrorist attack in order to do something? The current depressing status quo for the Palestinians could lead (again) to extreme actions. And after a terrorist attack it will be much harder to start building peace, especially internally. After being hit, a soft policy is not a good idea. We don’t have to justify again the Palestinian claim that “Israel only understands force”. We don’t need big demonstrations from the right wing parties here.

Now is good time to be generous in humanitarian aid. Israel can do a lot to aid, by sending food and medicine, and by lifting the heavy arm from the Palestinians. Leaving Gaza and lifting a few blockades in the West Bank could help.

Now is also a time for starting peace negotiations. There are so many plans that were drawn along the years. I’m sure that an agreement could be reached. I’m sure that the differences are small. I’m also certain that the public opinion on both sides is more ready for concession than it was a few years ago. I don’t believe that an agreement would be reached instantly, but its time to hit the road for peace.

It doesn’t have to be the famous roadmap. In general, it doesn’t have to be coordinated with the current US administration. The interests of the US and Israel aren’t always identical. In the last war, the US didn’t really push for a ceasefire, and pushed us to continue fighting. We have our own interests, and we can certainly push through to achieve them.

The current forgotten situation could blow up, also in our face. So now, when the leaderships on both sides are weak, its time to take a brave step forward for peace.

Last weekend I’ve been to a weekend seminar organized by Peace Now. After joining them at the last anti-war demonstration, I was inviited to the anual seminar. The seminar, held on the Sea of Galilee was fun and interesting (and also very cheap).

Here are all the pictures. 

Below are some brief notes from the weekend. I hope to write a more thorough post about our very forgotten neighbours. Their awful situation can’t stay in the shadows for too long. Very few people relate to it in blogs, and even fewer in the mainstream media.

There were a few interesting lectures. One was about the Arab world. The lecturer said that the weakness of all the political leaders in the region is a chance for peace. Another was also from an optimistic point of view, came from the manager of Geneva Initiative organization. Yet another came from an Israeli Arab, who was somewhat provocative. She said the Israeli Arabs can be a bridge between Israelis and the Palestinians, but also was very harsh towards Israeli policy towards Israeli Arabs.

Another part was a role play game of a peace conference. It was very complex and interesting. This was a nice way to deepen our knowledge about the conflict and also to know each other. Of course, at the end we reached an agreement. Such a game, played with all those leftists, must have a happy end. Reality is very different.

The weekend also included a bonfire, a dip into the Sea of Galilee and a stand-up show.

All in all, it was quite fun.

In the past few days, there is a lot of criticism in Israel regarding the war. Blames are put on the army, and on the political leaders. I read a lot of articles this weekend, and here is my personal summary. I collected the links in various places on the web after writing the post. My text is based on my opinions, influenced by various conversations and especially from reading many articles in Haaretz.

Some are speaking about the army’s surprise with Hezbollah’s anti-tank missiles. There were too many of these missiles, and they destroyed many tanks. They also hit many infantry soldiers that were in village houses.

Others are speaking about the reservists being untrained and under-equipped. Complaints about old equipment were joined with complaints about the lack of food and water.

Also the military tactics there were presented to the political leadership came under fire. Luckily for the chief of staff, Dan Halutz, his personal financial matters overshadowed his mistakes in running the war. I think that the stock selling story isn’t that bad. He didn’t use secret internal info, and didn’t do any wild speculant moves in the financial markets. The story overshadows his mistakes, and also those of the leadership.

The leadership of my country is now blamed for many things. They took a very hasty decision when starting the war. Such a serious decision should have been given more thought. Especially when the army wasn’t really ready for it.

They are also blamed for aiming at high goals and changing them frequently during the war. It began from changing the strategical situation in the ME and eliminating the threat of the rockets fired on Israel. It soon became obvious that these goals couldn’t be met.

I also think that they could have stopped it earlier, and I went to some protests, but its over now.

What bothers me most, is how the leadership took care of the civilians up north.

The devestating hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans almost a year ago exposed America’s deepest problems. The people with means, got into their cars and took off. They had the money that drove them to safety. The others were left behind. The weather forecasts were quite accurate and were in the news for many days. The federal government did nothing. When the level of water became lower, it was unvealed that an investment of about $5m in the levee that defended the city could have prevented most the destruction.

Also here, in a much lower scale, the government neglected the residents of the north. Going to war was a decision made by the government. Some say there was no choice, but that’s not my point. My point is, that the government should have taken responsibility for those residents, after it went to war.

Didn’t they expect this rain of 4000 rockets, 1000 of them on Kiryat Shmona? Maybe not. But after the war began, the Katyusha rockets hit the north, and this was the time to act. The government watched how the people with means fled southbound to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Eilat and other safe places. The unhealthy and poor people were just left behind. Only near the end of the war, the government organized short term evacuations.

Another thing that the government avoided is to declare a legal state of war. Declaring the war as a war also in legal terms would have allowed a faster transfer of money to aid those in need.

Like in Katrina, the public is called to help the relief efforts. Volunteers replaced the government in some of it’s basic responsibilites. Many commercial companies did “hugging” campaigns to aid the residents of the north (and to gain good publicity). A known controversial billionaire, Arkadi Gaidamak, also helped in setting up a city of tents on the seashore of Nitzanim.

This is the most disappointing thing for me. The process where the government steps away from it’s responsibility towards the citizens is going on for many years. Well, the last elections, held only 5 months ago focused on social issues. The party that pushed these issues, and to my opinion set the agenda for all the other parties, is the Labor Party, which I vote for. Amir Peretz was elected to lead the party just last Novemeber after heading the national worker’s union for 10 years.

The same Amir Peretz is now minister of defense. He seemed mor like the minister of offense in the current war. I still try to understand the last 60 hour effort to reach the Litani river, after the ceasefire was already decided upon. I still don’t see what good has come out of it. 33 soldiers were killed, and the territory that was conquered in those 2 and half days was quickly evacuated afterwards.

Anyway, I was expecting him, as a very senior member of the government, to do more for the residents of the north. I didn’t expect him to neglect them to the good will of aid organizations, billionaires, and commercial companies.

Today, the government decided to create a special government cabinet led by PM Olmert. This cabinet’s mission is to reconstruct northern Israel after the war.

I hope that this will not stay only as an answer to the wide public criticism inflicted on the government. The elections didn’t bring a change in social policy. Maybe the war will become a turning point not only in ME strategy, but also in social policy in my country.

If not, the government should step down. Some people already call for the resignation of the government because of all the abovementioned failures and others. The sad thing is, that in the current political situation, I don’t see a better alternative.