In June 2004 I visited Mahmoud Abbas in Amman. We met at the PLO’s official residence, where Abu Mazen (as Abbas is popularly known among both Palestinians and Israelis) likes to stay whenever he is in Jordan. We spent almost the entire day in conversation together.
During our meeting, we discussed efforts to revive the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which had been decimated by four years of violence that followed the outbreak of the second intifada. We also talked about his political future, since he had resigned the previous year as Palestinian prime minister.
These, needless to say, are two topics that continue to have great resonance, particularly in light of Abu Mazen’s recent announcement that he will not stand for reelection as president of the Palestinian Authority.
My relationship with Abu Mazen began in early 1993, when I supervised from afar the informal Israeli delegation to the Oslo negotiations, while he did the same for the Palestinian delegation. I did not actually meet him in person until September 13, 1993, when we both attended the signing ceremony on the White House lawn for the Declaration of Principles, more commonly referred to as the Oslo Accords.
Some time later, we began to conduct secret negotiations on possible parameters for a final-status agreement. These concluded in 1995, producing what has become known as the “Beilin-Abu Mazen agreement” (a misnomer since it was not actually a signed agreement). For me, it was a clear indication of his eagerness to move beyond interim steps and arrive at a comprehensive solution to the conflict.
Since then, we have met dozens of times. During this period, Abu Mazen has held a number of different positions in Palestinian politics. One thing, however, has remained constant: his commitment to achieving a two-state solution.
Our 2004 meeting in Amman took place at a time of uncertainty for him. Abu Mazen had resigned as Palestinian prime minister a little less than a year before. He had felt that he did not have Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s support on a range of domestic issues, and he was increasingly frustrated with the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
In our conversation, Abu Mazen was relaxed, comfortable with his decision to resign after eight months in office and philosophical, as he is inclined to be. I asked him what would happen once Arafat was no longer on the scene — and I was surprised by the candor of his response.
Abu Mazen explained that at the time there were only two credible candidates to take Arafat’s place, himself and Ahmad Qurei, who had succeeded him as prime minister. He added that he believed the Palestinian leadership would prefer him over Qurei. Abu Mazen said that if he were to succeed Arafat, he would work closely with Qurei despite their many disagreements. He also said that he would agree to be president not because he wanted the job, but because it was his national duty, and that after a single term, he would pass the torch to the next generation.
This appears to be precisely what has happened. Arafat died at the end of that year. In January 2005, Abu Mazen was elected president, and Qurei served as his prime minister. Now, at the end of his first term, Abu Mazen is saying what he promised back in 2004: that he would not serve more than a single term as president. Many don’t believe him and see his recent announcement that he will not seek another term as a ploy intended to strengthen his political hand, or to force the United States to exert greater pressure on Israel.
I am inclined to take Abu Mazen at his word. Abu Mazen never much liked power, never liked being president, and he eagerly awaits the day he will leave his job.
It is also true, however, that Israel and America have something to do with Abu Mazen’s decision. We really never helped him.
One of Abu Mazen’s most difficult moments was Sharon’s decision to evacuate Gaza unilaterally rather than within the context of a bilateral agreement. Sharon failed to take advantage of the fact that in Abu Mazen there was a Palestinian president who was pragmatic, who sought a peace accord with Israel and who was the only senior Palestinian leader to dare to confront Arafat at the height of the second intifada and demand an end to violence. Sharon — who essentially believed that all Arabs are the same — was indifferent to the possibility that his unilateral action would strengthen Hamas and potentially facilitate its takeover of Gaza.
When Ehud Olmert became prime minister, he conducted negotiations with Abu Mazen in his own living room in Jerusalem, meeting him once every few weeks, without any note takers and without enjoying support from within his own Cabinet. Olmert was surprised that Abu Mazen did not fall head over heels for what the Israeli prime minister thought was a very generous peace offer. But we should remember that this offer included Israel’s annexation of Ariel, a large settlement in the heart of the West Bank, along with other bitter pills that would be difficult for any Palestinian leader to swallow.
The United States has not helped Abu Mazen either. During most of his term in office, Abu Mazen had the bad luck of having an American president in power who surrounded himself with advisers like Elliott Abrams, who did not believe in the possibility of peace. But the real disappointment probably came from President Obama, who defined the freezing of West Bank settlement construction as a condition for the renewal of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations but then caved in to Netanyahu on the issue, leaving behind Abu Mazen, who could not afford to do the same.
None of this is to say that the Palestinians did not make their own contributions to the lack of progress toward peace. Palestinian hesitancy and clumsy political conduct and, perhaps most of all, the ongoing split between the West Bank and Gaza Strip — that is, between Fatah and Hamas — have all been detrimental to peace prospects.
Now, we face the consequences of our collective failures. With Abu Mazen seemingly on his way out, it is increasingly clear that we may have missed a rare chance to reach a peace agreement. Abu Mazen may not be terribly charismatic or a great orator, but he is a responsible leader who believes that the Palestinian national interest lies in the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, with both states enjoying peaceful relations and economic cooperation with one another.
I do not believe that Abu Mazen will change his mind about not seeking reelection. If the elections don’t take place this coming January — a date Abu Mazen had proposed, but that Hamas has rejected — hopefully he will stay in his job until they do. Some of his aides, however, now suggest that he may resign in the next month. No matter what happens, the matter of who will succeed him remains uncertain.
Of all those who may present their candidacy for president, the one with the greatest chance of winning is Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life terms in an Israeli prison. If he presents his candidacy (he would need to do that by November 25, assuming a January election) and wins, the Palestinians will have a president in jail — a pragmatic but hot-tempered man, who led the second intifada but never lost his faith in a peace agreement. Will Israel release Barghouti from jail and negotiate with him? Or will Israel’s leaders express a sigh of relief and feel justified in refusing to negotiate with someone they consider a terrorist?
For now, Israel and the United States need to take advantage of Abu Mazen’s remaining time in office. Israel should announce a freeze of all settlement construction for the next three months and begin negotiating with Abu Mazen. The Obama administration should make every effort to bring Israel and the Palestinians to the table.
Our window of opportunity is closing fast. And, I fear, it won’t be easy to open a new one.
Yossi Beilin, a former justice minister of Israel, serves as chairman of the Geneva Initiative-Israel.
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Yawn. Another failed Palestinian politician. None of them will ever recognize a Jewish state, because their life expectancy would shrink to 24 hours. This is because the Pals have been indoctrinated to think they can eliminate Israel. Abbas, set up a grocery in London. Take Mr beilin as a partner
Incidentally, September 13th, 1993 was also Mortal Monday.
Reading al the doom and gloom news I recall another time when the neocons and I cried together over an assumed era of doom and gloom. As I watched Vietnam, a struggle with which I was involved for a decade, slip into the claws of Communism I suffered grave depression. Yet soon afterwards the NY Times published as lead a letter of mine in which I expressed confidence that eventually Palestinians would embrace Israeli economic leadership in a better life for all. In an article in the NY Review of Books on Sharon's razing of Jenin, soon after my retirement to write a book on the Vietnam War, Ben Ami wrote about how the last time Israeli forces marched into Palestinian cites years before people were applauding, looking forward to acquiring as good a life as that of Israelis by copying their modern ways. By 2002, the issue degenerated to Intifada II and willing young shahids. Now, blanched in hair and bent over in weariness, Abbu Mazen admits that the very Muslim Brotherhood branch, HAMAS, that Sharon had helped with funds and aid in the hope that it would kill Arafat, has splintered the Palestinians into two factions, one that look to the alchemy of righteous revenge as Jihadists and those who resorted to the alchemy of corruption to turn blood into gold; this had broken any Palestinian territorial unity which could lead to nationhood.
For Israel this means catastrophe because, while HAMAS adherents are willing to die killing, Israelis are only willing to kill but not die. As a result, as things get hot they engage in reverse-aliyah, using their multiple passports despite all the rhetoric. The issue is land, land that the very settlers claiming that God gave it to the Jews insist upon yet do not recognize the state of Israel; nevertheless, young Sabras must put on their uniforms and grab their arms to protect these settlers from incidents they often provoke. In truth, HAMAS insists that death alone excuses an end to struggle for a Palestinian state devoid of the Jewish one that now occupies the land. But until HAMAS came into existence Palestinians-- 30% Christians, 70% Muslim-- had the most secular Arab leadership in the Mideast. Yet Israel deemed killing the Palestinian leader who brought world recognition of the Palestinian nation a top priority so it funded Jihadism in Gaza. It is this kind of polarizing radical choices that put Israel in an increasingly isolated position that could eventually lead to an American backlash when Americans come to see themselves as a defeated people (twice!) in Crusades (part of Neocon "World War IV" against Islam) and once in Asia. Americans will not be able to accept responsibility for their incompetent leadership but will seek scapegoats—the stab in the back syndrome. One should recall what happened when the Saudis decided that time had come for them to compete with the Iranians for leadership of the Gulf in the 1970s. Our access to cheap--real cheap--oil was cut and we suffered. Israel then had no choice but to return the Sinai to Egypt and make peace on Egyptian terms. The Jewish leadership’s effort to punish Carter for it, one can say, really backfired. A similar effort to do that to Obama now, in these times of deep economic crisis, could well spark the American Krystalnacht I so fear. But before then, Jews will fragment into irreconcilable factions as now are the Palestinians.
All in all, the Abbas despair should serve as a lesson to Israelis as to their relation with the Diaspora Jews. If the Haredi are deemed the Jewish HAMAS, a split akin to that of the Palestinians and the ensuing paralysis can only serve those who would doom Israel and Diaspora Jews. Let us hope that rather than celebrate a pyrrhic victory Israel and Jews the world over work hard to save Abbas and the secular moderates that for so long have had so much in common with Israel and-- unique amongst Arabs-- an insider appreciation of the wondrous benefits of an Israeli-Arab alliance.
From what I hear, Abbas in terminating his efforts, and what he has been upholding of the Two States solution, in stages hoping that at any one of numerous stages Israel will come to its senses and realize that a small Israel can be a safer, richer and far more appreciated Israel as the Palestinians sell its leadership to Arabs in general. The political issue of the two states solution-- ONCE SETTLEMENTS ARE FOROZEN-- becomes an ever more postponable reality as Israel integrates Palestinians more and more into its cultural and economic developments. Jihadi radicalism, like the Wahabbi and Haredi radicalisms are exhausting themselves, fueled only by a raging motivation to revenge for indiscriminate attempts to murder their respective populations. As Israelis and moderate Palestinians work together ever closer to catch Arab and Jewish terrorists in law and order dragnets fair to both, HAMAS loses it relevance and, as in other Arab states where the Muslim Brotherhood politically adapted, they too will have to adapt by becoming more conciliatory. Amb. Or's nutty statements notwithstanding (after all, he's got dual nationality, just in case), I am quite sure Netanyahu is thinking very much along these lines and sees Abbas as the indispensable partner (Bibbi has only one passport and only one nationality!). No matter how much of a shyster some consider Bibbi, one thing is sure, like Abbas he will go down with the sinking ship.
Arabs have incredible affection for credible and honest Israeli leaders. Their affection for and tolerance of (despite hard positions) Dayan, Begin and Rabin more than prove that point. It is not that Arabs assumed that these "enemies" suddenly turned pro-Arab, far from it, but it is the credibility and reliability of these leaders that made them so admired. Netanyahu has an historic chance to save Israel by saving Abbas. Otherwise, all these tough talking Ashkenaizis, Russians, Haredi and Likudniks will not make a last stand with him; rather, they will be long gone, having reached into their other back-pocket for a Western passport so they could settle as Diasporics living off their cushy nest eggs built gradually in Western banks. It is the Mizrahis and many Sabras who will once again be screwed and abandoned as they face the wrath of people with whom otherwise easily come to a common understanding. I look to the cleverness AND foresight of Netanyahu to save Abbas and the roadmap to peace by offering Palestinians a better alternative to that offered by HAMAS to only some 40% of the population on religious grounds alone (moderate Muslims are as Takfir as Christian and secular Arabs in their eyes). The best deal Israel had ever been offered it got from the Saudis in the name of the Sunni masses. The split with the Iran led Shias has now become such a deep crevasse that Israel alone can bridge. "Shyster" Bibbi is quite clever and most determined to save Israel form disappearing before the end of the century so he will, given time and political wiggle room, do much to advance a total Mideast integration into an economy to peaceful modernity rather than secular bloodshed. Most important is to stop invoking doom and gloom Holocaust days as cover-up for "pruning" the Palestinian population with cluster-bombs in the name of self-defense when it is really for "lebensraum" for empty houses. Like Begin, Netanyahu will not countenance such criminal repeats for he is morally strong in his heart and understand that there can be no Palestinian "partner" while you cluster bomb his family's home. Only a "wishy-washy" politician when it comes to Jewish Ethics like Livni and Barak could be so morally loose as to use the Holocaust as a cover for such population "pruning" in Gaza. So let us watch as Bibbi moves up in World History by saving Abbas en route to a Shalom/Salam Final Solution devoid of Holocaust psychosis. That takes balls, a Netanyahu family trait!
Hymie, God forbid your hate becomes reality! Then please consider paying your own way and forever insecure about Iran that you can't touch because no one will give you the weapons you want. Soon China will rule the West economically and will punish Israel if abandoned by US. The US is going to evict Israel from its womb and let it float on its own. Please tell me what other FRIEND Israel has in the world. Once US abandons Israel even Diaspora Jews will abandon it. No Jewish conscience will permit itself to support an apartheid racist state. On its own Israel can't survive. Think about that when you come up with such hateful declarations. In fact, Israel faces lots of Americans who will support this stand because it will give them the excuse they need to cut it off and spend the money at home while making better deals for Arab oil in competition with China. All we produce now that we can sell is arms! Also, please consider that the Muslim population in the US is getting a lot bigger and may prove to be very recalcitrant to Israel as a racist country.
Israel can well survive and prosper as a Jewish state, but one integrated into Mideast as a whole. Leading Arab modernization is not easy for there would be a lot of conflict between modernists and the current rich and the mullahs they control. But in the end, Muslims can be counted for at least one thing: gratitude and affection for the people that got them from squalor to modernity. You may not like your genetic relatives (assuming you are from a Mizrahi line) but one thing you can't escape in life is your relatives. Better to reunite the family in a common goal-- modernization-- and make the best of the outcome than to divorce them and then try to live amongst them. At any rate, I can assure you that goyim Americans would not support Israel any more if it causes Arabs to cut off oil.
The trick is to make the best of the situation, Hymie, not to just spew your bile. There's a lot to be said for Israel guiding its Arab kin out of the darkness. Anything less than that spells the end because, as things are now, Israel suffers more emigration than immigration. Don't cut your trunk to spite your roots. Lean on family ties-- as I personally know, the most unfair and painful-- and in the end your children will go next door to set up a nuclear desalination plant or something rather than to LA to work as a clerk with a PhD. Remember that Jews and Arabs intermixed and prospered at some time over the whole area. Your rant about AIDS and your prayer of hate fall on deaf ears as yours is not the God of hate, unless you are one of those hateful little secular ex-commie neocons who fight with their mouths as propagandists for sale, not with their fists. Many people I know in Israel are overcoming their hate and teaching Palestinians to make their country like Israel, a model to all Arabs. If you don't think Palestinians appreciate it, how did Shin Bet get at one time 32,000 informants to risk their lives in Gaza for a couple of $$$, putting their lives on the line to give intel to inform on HAMAS?
Of course Mahmoud "terrorist-in-a-suit-and-tie" Abbas won't run. he doesn't have to. He'll just stay elected indefinitely. The "presidential election" has been cancelled ( = post-poned until it's more convenient) for lack of public interest. The cancellation of the PA presidential election is already old new. And so Abas just stays on. How convenient. Same thing that Arafat did. Term of office - Abas's term of elected office expired long ago.? Democracy? You gotta be kidding. Failure of Arafat or Abbas to act in accord to standard democracy rules of the game is of course completely acceptable to such stalwarts of democracy as Yosssi Beilin. But then again, the "enlightened" Beilin and his ilk know better what is in the best interest of Israel than the duly-elected Israel government. But since the miserable failure of Oslo, Beilin can no longer convince the vast majority of his fellow citizens to espouse his follies. Israelis have experienced the terrible consequences of being suckered by his slick wish-full thinking and aren't about to be burnt again. In fact, Beilin himself, having lost all credibility here, seems have given up trying to advance his fantasies by democratic means within Israel, but focusses on trying to convince external-to-Israel people/governments/anybody to pressure Israel to adopt his pie-in-the-sky ideas.
Rather than each of us throwing invectives at eachother or at protagonists in current history, can we introduce concrete "END POINT" notions as to where the Middle East-- Israel and the Arabs-- issue is to go and then we can bring in our critiques of various personalities within a more operative context giving that more depth in dealing with solutions rather than just arguing for the impossible elimination of confounding facts, namely, given cenrtain pathologies, how does one get from here to there? We may thus find that we have many structural points in common rather than the seeming polarization produced by slander and vituperations.
My dear Mr. Eisenstain,
For the length of my comments I have no excuse other than that I so deeply care and fear misjudgment of my thoughts and motives. I was a child of the Holocaust war you refer to and, as I repeatedly wrote, tutored by Jewish survivors of a DOUBLE Holocaust, Hitler’s and Stalin's. My relation with Israel goes to my youth and to the welcome I got from "landsmen" in Tel Aviv where their shop windows so often bore the sign "vorbim romaneste." Those Jews, the American Jews who helped me adapt to this very difficult country (so much so that I was elected president of three CYO chapters and given awards to bringing religion back to the youth center activities), an the Jews I cling to for hope in Western culture are my motive for screaming to you: DO NOT PROVOKE AN AMERICAN KRYSTALNACHT WITH MERE CHUTZPAH BUT BE CONSIDERATE OF YOUR *FELLOW* AMERICANS, whatever their flaws. What events provoke this reaction I need not catalogue for I know that in your private moments you too fear them. Indeed, if there were such an event here, consequent to a search for scapegoats by a nation that cannot accept that it is in hoc to China-- the disseminator on nukes to ALL the Third World for obvious reasons-- because of its own greed, it would look just as today looks with the dollar at the mercy of others, including those you claim wish Israel dead. So I see Israel's "thriving" but not now, only after it leads its Arab cousins out of the darkness of rot to modernization as truly a "light onto the [Arab] nations." I wish for an Israel in peace and prosperity, leading a Middle East in peace and prosperity, period...and that's the basis of my support for Netanyahu's economic gambit with the Palestinians under all this "suburbs" stuff. Let me return your warning, sir, you be careful what you wish for as you will not be willing to pay the price nor, hopefully, pass such horror as the only legacy of your arrogance to your children. The issue as we die is always" what kind of world have we left the children? That permits us not blind one sidedness, so blind that you cannot see the relevance of what I wrote to what Belin wrote. I know him too well to accept your claim of my "irrelevance" to his words. And whatever you may think of him, I propose to you that, unlike a lot of the hard-liners, he does not posses multiple passports just in case. Let's not hide hypocrisy behind vitriol, for the sake of the children who know no other homeland than Israel, at least. Please recognize the caring and fear in my tone rather than read it as anti-Semite. After all, I don’t attack those who claw my integrity here as “anti-Christians” so I don’t see why my arguments should be set aside in favor of slander. Let us look for common ground and if we find it, I assure you, we will all be the better for it for there are NO ENEMIES HERE, I swear by my father’s memory.