COLUMN: Why the Roadmap really failed
The failure of the “Mid-East Roadmap to Peace” is something that doesn’t surprise me; to be honest I was expecting it too as it never dealt with the actual underlying problems. While Medlir Mema blames Israel in his opinion column, published Sept. 29 for this failure, he errs as to the “Quartet,” the Unites States, European Union (EU), Russia and United Nations (U.N.); hasn’t read the relatively short Roadmap, found at http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0ncf0; and is unaware of what is really going on. Unlike Mr. Mema, I am Israeli, have close friends and family in Israel, and am more interested in having the peace process succeed than am in any potential political gain.
The Roadmap failed because, first, it addressed primarily symptoms of the problems, and not the problems themselves, and second, it was undermined by Palestinian Authority (PA) president Yasir Arafat.
In June 2003, Israel accepted the Roadmap and, in accordance, began dismantling settlements constructed after March 2001 and withdrawing from areas designated as PA occupied. Israel also released several hundred prisoners as an additional goodwill gesture that was not part of the Roadmap. Incidentally, one of those released prisoners murdered a 7-month-old baby girl and a 30-year-old man having a festive dinner for the Jewish New Year on Sept. 25, 2003. According to the Roadmap, control of all PA security forces and organizations were to be transferred from Arafat to the Interior Minister, a portfolio that PA Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas held. Arafat completely refused to hand over control of these, effectively rendering Abbas and his security chief Mohammed Dahlan powerless to fight terrorism. To add insult to injury Arafat initiated a series of attacks with Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad. Israel found it necessary to continue the strong, proactive approach to terror prevention, i.e., kill terrorists before they kill innocent men, women and children, and to continue building the protective wall (neither of Israel’s actions are prohibited by the Roadmap). Arafat opposes the wall solely because it seriously diminishes his capability to launch terror attacks against Israelis, not because it is on so-called Palestinian land. He would object to it even if it were built exactly on the 1949 Israeli-Jordanian armistice (Green) line – Arafat considers Tel Aviv, Haifa and the rest of pre-1967 Israel to be occupied Palestinian land. Since the PA began this war against Israel and specifically targeted civilians, it is only fair that Israel build the protective wall at its convenience and not at the PA’s. If there was no terror, there would be no wall; the Israelis would rather spend the money on mutually beneficial projects with the PA.
But in reality, terror, targeted killings, Palestinian opposition to living alongside Jews, the protective wall, etc. aren’t the real problems here; they are merely symptoms. Getting respective parties to cease their activities may provide temporary relief, but it won’t cure the disease.
There are two real problems. The first is despotism in the PA and Arab world and the willingness of countries, most notably the EU and UN, to give those regimes legitimacy. The second is that militant Islamic countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia continue to deliberately fund terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al-Qaeda (which are considered terror organizations by the United States and EU).
With regard to the first problem, Israel has announced an excellent solution – either deport Arafat or kill him (preferably the latter), and then ensure that the PA becomes a truly democratic society. Arafat was never properly elected as President of the PA – he murdered or intimidated off any political opposition, with the mentoring and assistance of the KGB during the Cold War. This being the case, anyone who recognizes Arafat’s regime as legitimate becomes part of the problem. Most Palestinians and Arabs I know won’t say a good word about him. They know he’s a lying, murderous thief who only cares for himself, and they want him dead. An Arab, who doesn’t share my political views, once asked me in frustration why we didn’t just kill him. I can assure you that Arafat will not be missed.
The second problem, militant fundamentalist Islamic nations funding terror, can only be dealt with by both reducing our dependence on oil and seeing to it that those authoritarian regimes are quickly overthrown and replaced with free democracies, akin to what is happening in Iraq.
In conclusion, the Roadmap, like Oslo, was bound to fail, as it only addresses the symptoms and not the disease.
Guy Serbin works in the department of plants, soils and biometeorology. Comments can be sent to gserbin@mendel.usu.edu.