イスラエル／パレスチナ和平

A striking resemblance to Summer 2000
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=322787
By Danny Rubinstein



There were similar phenomena during a long part
of the Oslo process, and it was particularly
well known on the eve of the failed Camp David
summit three years ago. On May 14, 2000, for
example, then justice minister Yossi Beilin met
with Palestinian Legislative Council members
Marwan Barghouti and Fares Kedura, and with
Mamduh Nuf'al, a highly respected Palestinian
journalist and left-wing activist.

According to Beilin's book "Guide for the
Wounded Dove," Barghouti said at the meeting
that if prisoners aren't released, settlements
aren't frozen and the interim agreement meant
to transfer more territories to the
Palestinians isn't implemented, "the
frustration and disappointment could lead to an
explosion." Those people, intimately familiar
with the mood of the Palestinian street, were
among the Fatah activists who organized the
demonstrations that broke out in the
territories the next day, May 15, Nakba Day.

Israeli spokesmen charged that the Palestinians
were hypocritical: They warned of an outbreak
of violence, complained about the Israelis, and
at the same time initiated and organized such
an outbreak. In other words, they were trying
to fulfill their own prophecies and were
actualizing their own warnings.

For many years, Israelis explained that this was
behavior typical of Yasser Arafat, saying he
uses a technique that combines whining and
threats to extract - actually, extort - more
concessions from Israel. But the Palestinians
explained they were doing so under pressure
from a tempestuous public opinion, and that all
they wanted was to keep the frustration and
bitterness in the street under control in
organized demonstrations.

The situation now is amazingly similar to the
one that existed in the summer of 2000. The
Fatah and other movements, together with the
Palestinian Authority, are organizing
demonstrations, sit-in strikes and parades all
over the territories, demanding prisoner
releases.

The Palestinian protests now are about the
checkpoints, the constraints on worshiping at
Al Aqsa and a long list of other issues. And
it's all being done against the background of a
clear warning: If there's no obvious change in
the Israeli policies, it will all come to an
end. There won't be any hudna, and certainly no
calm.

More than a deliberate Palestinian threat, this
is a proper reading of the mood in the West
Bank and Gaza. The Palestinians in the
territories really and truly cannot bear the
daily distress and humiliations, and Israel
must take genuine steps in all the well-known
areas - prisoner releases, checkpoints and
freezing settlements. It's not gestures or
favors that are needed, but a genuine
improvement in the lives of the people of the
West Bank and Gaza. Without such a genuine
change, in a few weeks' time the routine of
bloodshed and conflict will resume.