Peace
Will Come With Security
by Arthur Glenberg
During
the holy week and Passover, people around the world prayed for
peace and freedom, yet the situation in Palestine and Israel
seems to be moving swiftly in the opposite direction. Intransigence
has built up on both sides to the point that ethical, long-term
solutions seems impossible.
In
contrast, a new proposal for moving peace forward has been developed
and will be discussed at the public forum from 7PM to 9PM, Thursday
in the Play Circle Theatre at the Memorial Union, 800 Langdon
Street.
To
date, Middle East leaders have proposed solutions to the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict based on the principle of limiting the other side to
as little as possible. For example, Israelis wants security
and try to obtain it by limiting the activities and freedom
of Palestinians. Palestinians want a state and try to obtain
it by limiting the security of Israelis. The result is a cycle
of escalating violence and increasing intransigence.
One
way to break this cycle is to consider the hopes and aspirations
of both Palestinians and Israelis, and to pursue a peace that
recognizes that the aspirations of one side cannot be met without
also meeting the aspirations of the other side. This must be
the case because Palestinians and Israelis constitute integral
components of a shared space.
The
peace initiative developed by
the Alternative Palestinian Agenda is such a proposal. It begins
with an analysis of the strongest aspirations of Israelis (security,
acceptance, Jerusalem, to name a few) and Palestinians (statehood,
right of return, Jerusalem and others) and argues that these
aspirations are inextricably linked.
In
recognition of these linkages, the initiative develops a political
solution to integrate and achieve these aspirations. In outline,
the solution is a confederation between a Palestinian state
with a Palestinian identity and an Israeli state with an Israeli
identity. A states are united by a federal government, located
in Jerusalem, that functions to ensure external security. After
a transitional period, citizens of the confederation, regardless
of ethnicity, are free to live in either state subject to the
laws of that state.
Aspects
of the proposal will at first seem bizarre. For example, the
proposal outlines a territorial reconfiguration that assigns
more land to the Palestinian state than other two-state proposals.
If the goal were to limit the Palestinian state, than such a
proposal would be absurd. However, if the goal is to share the
land and hence achieve security by meeting the aspirations of
both Palestinians and Israelis than the idea is worth discussing
as a long-term, viable solution
In
this regard, the peace initiative has a dual character. One
the one hand, it is wildly optimistic: Israelis and Palestinians
must develop trust in each other for the plan to succeed. One
the other hand, the peace initiation is hard-headedly realistic:
a sustainable peace demands that the participants respect each
other's aspirations. For more information about the peace initiative
see ap-agenda.org/initiative.htm.
