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Jewish World Review Oct. 11, 2000 / 12 Tishrei, 5761
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http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
FOR YEARS President Clinton and his minions -- Vice President
Al Gore and the First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton -- have vowed to “stand by
Israel so long as she takes risks for peace.” Well, now Prime Minister Barak
has gone farther than any Israeli leader in recent history -- offering 90% of
the West Bank and shared control over Jerusalem -- and finds his reward:
American acquiescence at international condemnation of Israel for the recent
violence in the Middle East.
America blindly stood by this weekend as the United Nations Security Council
approved a resolution condemning Israel for “excessive use of force” against
the Palestinians in the recent spate of violence. This is Prime Minister
Barak’s reward for carrying the Clinton administration’s water in the more
than year he has been in office. The American decision, which we can only,
ultimately, blame on President Clinton, marks the end result of the
administration’s painstakingly neutral approach to the peace talks between
Israel and the Palestinians. In the negotiations between both sides, America
has attempted to play the role of the honest broker, the facilitator, the
“guarantor.” But by doing so the Clinton administration has abandoned Israel
to the biased international body, which once declared “Zionism is racism” and
bans the Jewish state from full participation in the world body.
Israel’s abandonment on the part of America is particularly significant given
the fact that the facts on the ground as of October 2000 are the exact
opposite from what they were in the heyday of the intifada -- the Palestinian
uprising -- that began in 1987. In that period, an argument could at least be
made that the Palestinians had far too little autonomy over their lives.
Observers from inside and outside Israel could look at the fight between the
Israeli Army and the Palestinian youths as a mismatch. But that period is
over. Yasser Arafat controls a multiplicity of different security forces and
“police” operations that have all been armed with Israel’s help. The majority
of the Palestinian people live under Arafat’s mini-state and were on the
brink of forging a final agreement with the Israelis. When a European film
crew captured footage of Arafat’s armed Tanzim brigades handing out Molotov
cocktails to Palestinian teens, those same Palestinian security forces
arrested the European press people and confiscated their film; thereby
preserving the image of the Palestinian underdog.
As to the efficacy of Clinton’s stewardship of the peace process, consider
those same youths who are fighting the “battle for Jerusalem.” These are
people who are between, say 15 and 25 years of age. That means they were
between 8 and 18 when the famous Rose Garden handshake took place between
Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin. But the seven years of ceaseless Israeli
concessions and the existence of Palestinian control over much of the area in
which they live seem to have little influence on their decision to take to
the streets. In fact, this group of “shebabs” (street youths or guys) are as
or more impassioned as their stone-throwing predecessors. The charred remains
of Joseph’s Tomb and the ruined Jewish prayer books represent the aspirations
of these people. For this America encouraged Israel to make concessions?
Speaking on Meet the Press Sunday, Israel’s Barak listed Arafat’s complicity
in the recent violence: 1) The P.A. chairman had failed to call off his
Tanzim forces; 2) Arafat had failed to collect the thousands of illegal
weapons circulating in Gaza and the West Bank; 3) Arafat had refused to shut
down the terrorism operations of Islamic Jihad and Hamas. Nothing in Barak’s
statement presented any new information to the public. These complaints have
been made by critics of Oslo for years. President Clinton and Secretary
Albright have turned a deaf ear for years to these assertions, calling always
for more Israeli give-aways. But this was the first time Barak, the most
enthusiastic supporter of the peace process, has publicly articulated them in
English to an American audience.
Yom Kippur, Jewry's Day of Atonement, has just ended.
The more pressing question is whether Clinton and Albright
will consider their contributions to the recent violence. In the coming days,
Clinton and Albright may be the ones with much to atone
By Seth Gitell
JWR contributor Seth Gitell is the political writer of the Boston Phoenix and the former
national editor of the Forward. Let him know what you think by clicking here.
