All of This Has Happened Before...

Posted by Robert Zimmer on 01.12.2009

... and it will happen again, in the Middle East, if we do not do something to shock both Israel and Palestine -- like the United Nations taking over, by force.

Six years ago, fighting erupted between Israel and Palestinians, largely undoing the progress made during the 1990s between the age-old enemies. At that time, I wrote a column looking at the bigger picture. I re-read that column today, and was deeply saddened that I didn't even need to write a new analysis of the new violence, just change a few names and dates. The senseless suffering endures. Just as distressing, the big picture seems to be missing from so much analysis of the latest bloodbath between Israel and Palestine. That big picture is this: history simply keeps repeating itself with these two foes -- and if we keep trying the same approaches to solving the problem, that vile history will continue repeating itself indefinitely. It's time that the United Nations take over and suspend both Israeli and Palestinian sovereignty. My 2002 thoughts on the issue, sadly still appropriate, are below:

Any experienced parent knows that when children insist on being immature -- for example, refusing to share, playing dirty, hurting each other – they get punished. They get their privileges suspended, they have to be separated and go to their rooms for a while to cool off.

It's about that time for Israel and the Palestinians.

I don't mean to be flip about the grave and terrible situation in the Middle East, but the analogy is apropos. The world community has given the two parties innumerable opportunities to find a way to co-exist in peace (most recently, the Oslo accords of 1993 and 1995, and the Wye accord of 1998), yet the situation inevitably degenerates into a hideous playground brawl, each calling the other names, blaming the other for instigation and perpetration of violence, the body count spiraling out of control.

The other key player in the equation, the United States, has been AWOL. Bush has stood by and essentially fiddled while Jerusalem burned, virtually abdicating the position of responsibility the U.S. holds on this issue. (Furthermore, his nitwit press secretary, Ari Fleischer, actually had the audacity to accuse former President Clinton of contributing to the Mideast violence by trying too hard to help broker peace. This from a Jewish man, no less. He should have been fired on the spot.)

Enough is enough.

It's time the United States stop coddling Israel, and it's time the Arab community stop coddling Arafat. Ariel Sharon is a notorious warmonger whose personal and professional history is replete with frightening disregard for the value of Palestinian and Arab lives.* It goes without saying that Yasser Arafat is no saint either; furthermore, one must question whether he even retains authority to reign in the extremist factions within his own population.

These two men are dinosaurs who represent an old way of thinking: that Arabs and Jews are practically born and bred to distrust, hate, and think of one-another as sub-human. There is no room for this behavior in a civilized world. It's time for new leadership on both sides. These men have failed their people; the U.S. has failed everyone. (And let me take a pre-emptive strike against you hysterical people who will label me anti-Semitic for daring to criticize Israel, or part of some vast Jewish conspiracy for daring to criticize Palestinians. Quit using this herring and face reality.) It's time we look to the world community to intervene behalf of its citizens.

We must force Israel and the Palestinians to understand this fundamental truth: national sovereignty is a privilege that you only get to keep if you abide by a basic set of human rights. But both have repeatedly failed to do so, and their ordinary citizens -- innocent men, women and children – are paying the price with their lives. So when a government fails to respect the rights of its people and its neighbors, then they must be deprived of their sovereignty by a higher, more impartial authority, until such time as peace and dignity can be restored. This is why the Taliban got kicked out of Afghanistan by the U.S., and why U.N. forces patrol Kabul. The Taliban couldn't play nice; in fact, they took pleasure in doing the opposite. It was intolerable, and they have been removed.

Therefore, it is time for drastic steps:

The United Nations must step in and occupy Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and any and all other disputed territories in which violence has become the norm. U.N. peacekeeping troops should be authorized to disarm anyone and shoot to kill if necessary to show they're not kidding around. The U.N. force should be fairly and proportionately composed of troops from a variety of representative religious and cultural backgrounds. Then, as things stabilize, Sharon and his cabinet get locked in a room with Arafat and his cabinet. If they refuse, then they forfeit their right to govern their peoples. Whoever is in charge must be told the following – no discussion, no negotiations, no whining:

Israel has a right to exist as a separate, sovereign state, recognized and respected by its neighbors.

Palestine has a right to exist as a separate, sovereign state, also recognized and respected by its neighbors.

The borders of the Palestinian state and Israel shall conform to match the guidelines established in the Oslo and Wye accords. Israeli troops will leave the West Bank and Gaza Strip, to be replaced by U.N. peacekeepers. You already agreed on this stuff, guys. Now it's time to live up to your promises for once.

Additionally, Jerusalem will be established as the joint capital of Israel and Palestine, and furthermore will be a no-weapons, demilitarized Holy City, a la Vatican. Initially, this will be enforced and policed by the United Nations; at such time as the two parties have shown they are mature enough to cease the desecration of land that is sacred to three major world religions, they will be allowed to administer the Holy City themselves. It will continue forever as a demilitarized city. It's time that both Jews and Muslims alike grow up and stop acting as if they have exclusive claim to this land. The spiritual dignity and principles of peace shared by Islam, Judaism, and Christianity demand an end to violence as an acceptable norm in Jerusalem. The world community and the Catholic Church would never tolerate suicide bombs and other killings in Vatican City.

Also, Jewish settlers within areas that fall within the auspices of the new Palestinian state will be given the option of staying or going, with relocation costs to be shared by the United Nations with the two nations. Any Jewish settlers who elect to remain must, by law under Palestinian rule, be afforded the same rights and protection as any Palestinian citizen. The same applies to Palestinians who fall under Israel's governance; they will be afforded a chance to stay or relocate, and those that stay must be treated with dignity and respect of any Jewish citizen.

Then we send the boys back to their respective homes with a warning: play nice, or you lose your jobs. These provisions must be implemented immediately. The time has come and gone for waiting periods, cooling down periods, incremental steps, and half-baked nonsense of any sort. A 12-month time limit must be set for completion of the above steps in their entirety. As in Bosnia and other areas of the former Yugoslavia, the U.N. peacekeeping force will remain as long as is necessary to ensure peaceful implementation and cohabitation between Israel and Palestine.

What's truly disgusting and lamentable is that in an ideal world, these drastic measures would be unnecessary. We wouldn't need separate Jewish and Palestinian states. In an ideal world, these two peoples could try to set aside their centuries-old hatred and learn that their cultures and religions have many more commonalities than differences. In an ideal world, Jew and Arab could live together in the same space, in brotherly love. Is it too naïve to continue hoping for this?

For now, we will have to settle for neighbors who tolerate each other. It's time for the peace-loving people of the world to insist on an end to the killing, to the disrespect. It's time we demand peace in the Middle East. And if the so-called leaders in the region can't step back from their hatred long enough to do it, then it's time they be removed and replaced by people who can.

The loved ones of the dead people – in Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Tel Aviv, the Golan Heights – they deserve a better future. The souls of the dead cry out for peace. No more meaningless words, only meaningful actions. Let us give it to them – let us give them a peace that lasts forever.


* Arafat has been connected with the 1972 killings of Israeli Olympic athletes; Sharon commanded Israeli forces who massacred Egyptian prisoners in 1956, 1967, and 900 refugees in Lebanon in 1982. His response when confronted on the topic of Israeli war crimes in 1995: "No one can preach to us about it. No one."

Recently declassified U.S. Government documents reveal the following: Evidence of this 1967 massacre was picked up on radio by an unlucky United States ship, the U.S.S. Liberty, patrolling off the Israeli coast at the time of the slaughter. The Israeli military promptly attacked its own ally's vessel, by air and sea, nearly sinking it, and killing and wounding dozens of American personnel. Lyndon Johnson ordered the incident swept under the rug, not wanting to "embarrass an ally." (pp. 197-226; Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency, by James Bamford)