“Silence is no longer an option!”

Sponsored by the “Save Israel, Stop Occupation” NGO, 500 eminent Israelis made an appeal to the world Jewish diaspora on September 14, 2016. The open letter, called “A Call to the Jews of the World” and published in The Jerusalem Post, stressed that “If you care about Israel, silence is no longer an option!” The signatories include Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, famous author Amos Oz, 20 Israeli diplomats and other leading intellectuals. They urge to end the occupation of Palestine for the sake of building a new future for the State of Israel and the generations to come. The Palestinian and Israeli publics seek peace, and the coming days may become a turning point in the history of both peoples, if, as expected, direct negotiations between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be held after a six-year break.

THE HISTORY OF CONFLICT AND NEGOTIATIONS

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly resolved to establish two states in Palestine, one for the Arabs and one for the Jews. On the proclamation of the State of Israel in 1948, the First Arab-Israeli War started. Israel captured almost half of the areas allotted to the Arab state. After the wars of 1967 and 1973, Israel controlled almost all of Palestine and parts of Syria and Egypt. It signed a peace treaty with Egypt afterwards.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO, established in 1964) grew to be the key actor in the confrontation with Israel on the Palestinian side, led by Yasser Arafat, and then by Mahmoud Abbas after Arafat’s death in 2004. The PLO’s principal objective has been the creation of the Palestinian state. The means used by the Palestinians in their fight ranged from armed actions to civil disobedience (Intifada). After the abovementioned wars, the UN Security Council adopted two resolutions (respectively, No. 242 in 1967 and No. 338 in 1973), urging an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian and other Arab territories. On November 15, 1988, the Palestine National Council agreed to the division of Palestine into Jewish and Arab parts provided that Israel withdraws from all the territories occupied by it in 1967.

The Madrid Conference of 1991 is seen as one of the most important events in the settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as it stated the principle of “land for peace.” Later events included direct negotiations (like those held in Oslo, Washington, Jerusalem, and Sharm el-Sheikh) and mediation efforts of the International Quartet, made up of the UN, US, EU, and Russia. At different junctures, the negotiators agreed on the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority, local authorities, the security guarantees for Jewish settlers in Gaza and other issues. The latest direct talks between Palestinian president Abbas, who experts call a “man of peace,” and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu were held in Sharm el-Sheikh in 2010. The continued building of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories has been the stumbling block, as it de facto prevents the establishment of the Palestinian state and is opposed by the Palestinians and much of the Jewish public. They see it as a threat to the peace process.

THE PRESENT STATE AND PROSPECTS

The construction of settlements is often unauthorized. Mitzpe Dani is a representative example of such newly formed settlements, described by The New York Times journalist Isabel Kershner.

In the fall of 1998, Jewish businessman Shimon Riklin brought to the West Bank (a Palestinian territory) three trailers with personal belongings and took residence there without any authorization. His wife and two children joined him soon. Year after year, other settlers moved there as well, and Mitzpe Dani is populated by 40 Orthodox Jewish families now. According to The New York Times, there are about a hundred such settlements already. In an interview with that newspaper, Riklin said that when he brought his three trailers into the hills of the West Bank, nobody from the government or military came to remove them. After his settlement’s expansion lasted for six months, he realized that it was a done deal. The settlement problem is growing worse due to the following factors:

• Location: they are founded between Palestinian cities and villages, which are thus converted into enclaves.

•  Gradual legalization: Israeli authorities partially recognize unauthorized land grabs and provide new settlements with infrastructure facilities and protection. It should also be noted that sometimes the Israeli courts declare the settlements illegal, when they are erected in areas that are the private property of Palestinians (such as farmlands). Unfortunately, such decisions often come too late, because unauthorized settlers manage to destroy trees in the meantime, even centuries-old olives which have been cultivated for ages by Palestinian farmers in this region.

•  Checkpoints: legalized settlements are surrounded by protective checkpoints. To get to major highways, Palestinian civilians have to face a humiliating procedure of passing through numerous Israeli checkpoints, where they are searched, insulted, etc.

•  The barrier: the separation barrier being constructed by the Israeli government, sometimes in the middle of Palestinian towns (under the pretext of protecting Israelis from radicals), in fact, often separates families who find themselves on opposite sides of it. Moreover, the barrier is now being extended underground as well, which only deepens the societal divisions.

Of course, these and other factors are not conducive to sustainable peace. The Palestinians consider themselves insulted and discriminated. The Jews in their turn, scared by attacks committed by some radicals, mistakenly equate all Palestinian population with terrorists. Some parts of the Israeli public even entertain extreme ideas of cleansing Israel of Arabs (according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, the Arab population of Israel was 1,658,000 persons in 2013, making up 20.7 percent of the total).

We, however, see these statistics as evidence that the Palestinian and Jewish peoples are only deepening their historic links in the cultural, anthropological, and ethnic areas. The establishment of the Palestinian state should be seen as a key factor ensuring further peaceful coexistence. Obviously, should the two sides mutually recognize their sovereignty over their respective territories, it will open prospects for economic growth, strengthening their positions in the international arena and more. For Israel, the Arab countries can be enormous markets in the future. However, to achieve these desired results, politicians should listen, first of all, to the voice of experts and NGOs. In particular, the Israeli civil rights groups “Save Israel, Stop Occupation,” “Peace Now,” “B’Tselem” and others show that the government’s policy on settlements is wrong. The position of the international community regarding the construction of new settlements is similar: US President Barack Obama stressed in an interview with the BBC, conducted on November 18, 2009, that “Israel’s security is a vital national interest to the US, and we have to provide it. I think that additional settlement building does not contribute to Israel’s security, I think it makes it harder for them to consolidate peace with their neighbors.” The Arab peace initiative of 2002 also proposed the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territories occupied in 1967 and a peace treaty with Israel.

Following the June 2016 summit in France, French President Francois Hollande believes that resolving the Palestinian issue has become an even more urgent issue. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini condemned settlement expansion and violence, and the representative of Saudi Arabia expressed hope that “Israel will accept the Saudi initiatives which are needed for a final settlement.” The joint communique of the Paris summit recognized as part of the consensus that “the Palestinian-Israeli talks should be conducted on the basis of existing UN resolutions calling for Israeli troops to withdraw from the occupied territories.”

The positions of the conflicting parties on the French summit differed: The Jerusalem Post published a statement by president Abbas: “We welcome the French initiative and affirm that the status quo cannot continue. Our people will continue to use political and legal methods, through a peaceful and popular resistance, to achieve our national rights.” Unfortunately, current Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu gave a negative assessment of the efforts of French diplomacy in a phone call with Foreign Minister of France Jean-Marc Ayrault, saying that the actions of France “hinder regional initiatives that have a chance to succeed.”

If a compromise on the most annoying issues related to settlements can be reached, and direct talks between the leaders of Israel and Palestine are eventually held, it will prevent a disaster of international importance. In fact, according to head of the French diplomacy Ayrault, “the two-state solution is in serious danger. We are reaching a point of no return where this solution will not be possible. Therefore, whatever happens, we must get the parties back to the negotiating table before year’s end.” Abbas gave preliminary consent to resuming direct negotiations, provided a freeze on new settlement building is in effect and some Palestinian prisoners are freed. The Israeli government insists on negotiations without preconditions.

Very soon, we will probably witness a turning point in the Palestinian-Israeli issue which will consolidate peace in the Middle East. Russia and Luxembourg have expressed willingness to host negotiations between the leaders of Palestine and Israel. The government of Ukraine, which maintains good relations with both parties, also would have benefited from offering a platform for negotiations, thus strengthening its position in the Middle East.

However, the very fact of the venue being discussed may indicate that the parties are in agreement about the need to have the meeting itself at least, and this is a good thing in itself. Otherwise, the international community, already burdened with the economic crisis, refugee issues, the war in Syria, terrorism, the ISIS, etc., will need to make superhuman efforts to finally heal the six-decade-old bleeding wound in the Middle East.

Farid Alwash, Ph.D. in Philosophy, is chairman of the Research Center DAR (Democracy. Analytics. Result) NGO