HAARETZ.
THE UN AS A VENUE OF OPPORTUNITY.
By Jerome Segal
A step-by-step on how the Israeli government can turn the Palestinian UN iniciative into a vehicle for peace.
THE UN AS A VENUE OF OPPORTUNITY.
By Jerome Segal
A step-by-step on how the Israeli government can turn the Palestinian UN iniciative into a vehicle for peace.
It is within the power of the Israeli government to turn the Palestinian UN initiative into a powerful step toward peace. This will require
some rethinking and some imagination. Here is how it might be done:
1. Stop fighting Fatah’s effort to bring the Palestinian state into existence through the United Nations. Fatah needs a victory. So what if
this violates the Oslo Accords? It will not be the first time, for either side. The real issue for Israel is whether its Palestinian neighbors
will be governed by moderates who support the two-state solution, or by those who pursue Israel’s destruction through unfettered
violence. Call on the PLO (essentially, Fatah ) to establish a provisional government of the new state. Recognize the new state.
2. Defuse these events by reframing them in terms of the 2003 Quartet roadmap, drafted by the Bush administration and agreed to by
both Israel and the PLO. Remember that the roadmap provided for an optional Phase II, which called for a Palestinian state with
provisional boundaries. Movement into Phase II was supposed to be kicked off by an international conference, after which the specific
interim boundaries were to be negotiated by Israel and the PLO. View the current session of the UN as that international conference.
Remember that the roadmap said that prior to final status negotiations, the Quartet members would “promote international recognition
of the Palestinian state, including possible UN membership.”
Call on the interim Palestinian government to negotiate provisional boundaries. If the Palestinians refuse such negotiations ! and they
likely will, because they have always feared provisional boundaries and opposed Phase II of the roadmap ! then Israel should
unilaterally withdraw from most of the West Bank. It will be a Phase II outcome through a different process, and it will give Israel what
it previously wanted, experience with a Palestinian state prior to negotiation of final-status issues.
3. At the same time, announce that Israel recognizes all of the Gaza Strip as being under the de jure sovereignty of the State of
Palestine, and that Israel will lift all air, land and sea blockades of Gaza, if and when the Palestinians satisfy two conditions. First, Gaza
must be brought under the actual control of the new State of Palestine, and second, Palestine, Israel and Egypt have to agree on some
mechanism that halts the flow of weapons into Gaza.
4. Announce Israel’s willingness to go to Phase III and negotiate final borders and all the other permanent-status issues ! but only
after a time-out, during which the Palestinians will deal with their crisis of legitimacy.
5. Assist the Palestinians’ effort to get their house in order. Distinguish sharply between a unity government in which Fatah and Hamas
share power (which Israel will oppose ), and a unified framework of governance through which both factions compete for power through
elections (something Israel needs ). Urge the Palestinians to agree on a constitution for the State of Palestine and to hold elections for
its first government. Support Palestinian democracy by agreeing to respect the results of future elections, whoever wins. Yes, it is
possible that Hamas might win those elections, but not likely. Moreover, if the Palestinian people want to be governed by Hamas rather
than Fatah, it is better for Israel to know this now. In that case, there would be no end-of-conflict negotiations, and Israel would try to
work out a hudna with a Hamas government.
6. To support the time-out on final status negotiations until the Palestinians have held elections for a single government for all of
Palestine, announce that Israel will comply with its Phase I roadmap obligation, which calls for a freeze on all settlement expansion.
7. Think positively about the implications of the Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations. Note that the PLO is seeking
recognition of the state that was proclaimed by its 1988 Declaration of Independence ! a document that not only accepted the 1947
partition resolution, but explicitly noted that the partition resolution called for two states, “one Arab and one Jewish.” This is important
for Israel, a chance that may not come again.
8. Appreciate the fact that with statehood, Palestinian security forces will have a stable, long-term basis for acting against armed, nonstate
individuals and groups. Internally, rather than facing the accusation of being the police of the occupation, they will be exercising
the monopoly of power that is part of all claims to sovereignty.
9. Take comfort in the fact that the existence of the State of Palestine will contribute to the resolution of the refugee issue. Maximalist
claims for an unfettered right to return to Israel will be hard to sustain when Palestinians enjoy citizenship in their own state. With
The UN as a venue of opportunity
A step-by-step on how the Israeli government can turn the Palestinian UN initiative into a vehicle for peace.
By Jerome M. Segal
Home News International
Published 20:09 23.09.11 Latest update 20:09 23.09.11
9/23/11 2:40 PM Haaretz.ComPage 2 of 2 http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/the-un-as-a-venue-of-opportunity-1.386381?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.223%2C
statehood, we should see some maturing of the discourse on refugees, with a focus on compensation, and creative ideas for addressing
the deep needs of the refugees.
10. Take advantage of the time-out. Start fixing Israel’s internal problems.
Jerome M. Segal, a philosopher at the University of Maryland, is president of The Jewish Peace Lobby. His writings in 1988 were a
catalyst for the Palestinian Declaration of Independence.
This story is by: Jerome Segal
some rethinking and some imagination. Here is how it might be done:
1. Stop fighting Fatah’s effort to bring the Palestinian state into existence through the United Nations. Fatah needs a victory. So what if
this violates the Oslo Accords? It will not be the first time, for either side. The real issue for Israel is whether its Palestinian neighbors
will be governed by moderates who support the two-state solution, or by those who pursue Israel’s destruction through unfettered
violence. Call on the PLO (essentially, Fatah ) to establish a provisional government of the new state. Recognize the new state.
2. Defuse these events by reframing them in terms of the 2003 Quartet roadmap, drafted by the Bush administration and agreed to by
both Israel and the PLO. Remember that the roadmap provided for an optional Phase II, which called for a Palestinian state with
provisional boundaries. Movement into Phase II was supposed to be kicked off by an international conference, after which the specific
interim boundaries were to be negotiated by Israel and the PLO. View the current session of the UN as that international conference.
Remember that the roadmap said that prior to final status negotiations, the Quartet members would “promote international recognition
of the Palestinian state, including possible UN membership.”
Call on the interim Palestinian government to negotiate provisional boundaries. If the Palestinians refuse such negotiations ! and they
likely will, because they have always feared provisional boundaries and opposed Phase II of the roadmap ! then Israel should
unilaterally withdraw from most of the West Bank. It will be a Phase II outcome through a different process, and it will give Israel what
it previously wanted, experience with a Palestinian state prior to negotiation of final-status issues.
3. At the same time, announce that Israel recognizes all of the Gaza Strip as being under the de jure sovereignty of the State of
Palestine, and that Israel will lift all air, land and sea blockades of Gaza, if and when the Palestinians satisfy two conditions. First, Gaza
must be brought under the actual control of the new State of Palestine, and second, Palestine, Israel and Egypt have to agree on some
mechanism that halts the flow of weapons into Gaza.
4. Announce Israel’s willingness to go to Phase III and negotiate final borders and all the other permanent-status issues ! but only
after a time-out, during which the Palestinians will deal with their crisis of legitimacy.
5. Assist the Palestinians’ effort to get their house in order. Distinguish sharply between a unity government in which Fatah and Hamas
share power (which Israel will oppose ), and a unified framework of governance through which both factions compete for power through
elections (something Israel needs ). Urge the Palestinians to agree on a constitution for the State of Palestine and to hold elections for
its first government. Support Palestinian democracy by agreeing to respect the results of future elections, whoever wins. Yes, it is
possible that Hamas might win those elections, but not likely. Moreover, if the Palestinian people want to be governed by Hamas rather
than Fatah, it is better for Israel to know this now. In that case, there would be no end-of-conflict negotiations, and Israel would try to
work out a hudna with a Hamas government.
6. To support the time-out on final status negotiations until the Palestinians have held elections for a single government for all of
Palestine, announce that Israel will comply with its Phase I roadmap obligation, which calls for a freeze on all settlement expansion.
7. Think positively about the implications of the Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations. Note that the PLO is seeking
recognition of the state that was proclaimed by its 1988 Declaration of Independence ! a document that not only accepted the 1947
partition resolution, but explicitly noted that the partition resolution called for two states, “one Arab and one Jewish.” This is important
for Israel, a chance that may not come again.
8. Appreciate the fact that with statehood, Palestinian security forces will have a stable, long-term basis for acting against armed, nonstate
individuals and groups. Internally, rather than facing the accusation of being the police of the occupation, they will be exercising
the monopoly of power that is part of all claims to sovereignty.
9. Take comfort in the fact that the existence of the State of Palestine will contribute to the resolution of the refugee issue. Maximalist
claims for an unfettered right to return to Israel will be hard to sustain when Palestinians enjoy citizenship in their own state. With
The UN as a venue of opportunity
A step-by-step on how the Israeli government can turn the Palestinian UN initiative into a vehicle for peace.
By Jerome M. Segal
Home News International
Published 20:09 23.09.11 Latest update 20:09 23.09.11
9/23/11 2:40 PM Haaretz.ComPage 2 of 2 http://www.haaretz.com/misc/article-print-page/the-un-as-a-venue-of-opportunity-1.386381?trailingPath=2.169%2C2.223%2C
statehood, we should see some maturing of the discourse on refugees, with a focus on compensation, and creative ideas for addressing
the deep needs of the refugees.
10. Take advantage of the time-out. Start fixing Israel’s internal problems.
Jerome M. Segal, a philosopher at the University of Maryland, is president of The Jewish Peace Lobby. His writings in 1988 were a
catalyst for the Palestinian Declaration of Independence.
This story is by: Jerome Segal
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