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April 11, 2003
Peace in our time? Perhaps.
Norman Spector compares the Oslo agreement with the Meech Lake
Accord.
PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Few people have had such a front-row seat to history-making politics
as Norman Spector. In his role as chief of staff to then-prime minister
Brian Mulroney, it was Spector's job to steer the Meech Lake Accord
around the shoals of Canada's conflicted views of federalism. And
as the Canadian ambassador to Israel shortly after, he had a firsthand
view of the process and failure of the Oslo peace treaty. It's not
surprising, then, that he should see similarities in the two, which
is what he relayed to a Vancouver audience last week.
Though he was disappointed at Meech's eventual failure, Spector
now recognizes at least one fatal flaw that all the diplomacy he
could muster was not able to paper over. The recognition of Quebec
as a "distinct society" was sold to Quebec as an overdue
acknowledgment of that province's historical uniqueness and as an
important prerequisite to Quebec's acceptance of the Constitution
that was patriated without that province's approval. In English
Canada, the distinct society was downplayed as nothing more than
a symbolic recognition that would have few, if any, practical ramifications.
Arguing in Quebec that recognition of a distinct society was an
historic acknowledgment, while telling the rest of Canada that it
was insignificant, caused a cognitive dissonance that helped defeat
the accord in the end.
Not only were Oslo and Meech both negotiated in secret by respective
"elites" and presented as virtual faits accomplis, but
each was premised on an ambiguity that could not withstand inevitable
scrutiny.
Spector argued that the Oslo agreement tried to ignore the fundamental
conflict by overemphasizing what were relatively cosmetic aspects.
Oslo addressed issues such as Israel's incremental withdrawal from
Gaza and the West Bank and the dismantling of Jewish settlements
there. These issues, while important, ignored the root of the larger
conflict, argued Spector.
"The conflict is much more fundamental than that," he
said. "The conflict existed long before there was occupation
and before there were settlements."
At its root, the problem is a lack of genuine willingness among
many Palestinians and Israelis to live side-by-side, he said. Yasser
Arafat probably never truly accepted the compromise two-state solution
and, perhaps, expected that he would be assassinated by Palestinian
extremists if he concluded a peace deal. Even fair-minded Palestinians,
he claimed, will not accept a Zionist state at the doorstep of the
Arab world.
"Even the moderates believe that Israel is built on stolen
land," he said. Just as Palestinian schoolchildren are taught
that Israel does not exist, the historic claims of Jews to part
of the Holy Land is an idea that is foreign to many Palestinians,
Spector said. When an average Palestinian is asked what existed
on the site of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, almost none is aware
that it is the location of Judaism's holiest site, the Western Wall,
the last remnant of the destroyed Jewish Second Temple, said Spector.
But he believes the unwillingness to seek peace was not all one-sided.
"I don't believe that the right-wing in Israel was interested
in any peace treaty with the Palestinians," he said, drawing
a vocal reproach from some audience members. Former Israeli prime
minister Yitzhak Shamir wanted to delay any peace treaty for a decade,
Spector claimed, to allow mass immigration from the former Soviet
Union to reinforce Israel's hand so the Jewish state could negotiate
from a position of enhanced strength.
Spector, who is promoting his new book, Chronicle of a War Foretold:
How Mideast Peace Became America's Fight, was speaking at the
Israel Action Committee's Townhall Meeting April 3. The speech attracted
such interest that crowds filled the auditorium at the Jewish Community
Centre of Greater Vancouver, overflowed into the adjacent seniors'
lounge where a closed circuit link-up allowed more people to watch,
while others crowded the back of the auditorium and sat on the floor
in front of the podium. In addition to his ambassadorship, Spector's
perspective is based on his experiences as publisher of the Jerusalem
Post newspaper, and as a commentator who is frequently seen and
read in Canadian media.
The Oslo process, he said, defied traditional negotiating tactics,
which is to put everything on the table and trade-off. In the U.S.-brokered
Oslo agreement, the most contentious aspects – the governance
of Jerusalem, the future of the settlements – were deliberately
left out until less contentious aspects had fostered an atmosphere
of greater trust between the parties. It was not to be. The ambiguity
of the agreement and the uncertainty over the most controversial
sticking points allowed critics on both sides to undermine any goodwill
that developed. As the Palestinian leadership bragged that they
had received historic compromises, Israeli observers began to wonder
just what was being given up in the quest for peace.
"It really became a zero-sum negotiation," he said.
Meanwhile, Palestinian terrorism continued, undermining the hope
of Israelis that compromise would lead to peace. Spector reminded
the crowd that suicidal bus bombings began in 1996 – not at
the start of the current intifada – and these acts of terror
during an Israeli election campaign led voters to adopt a hawkish
attitude, electing Binyamin Netanyahu in what was a surprise upset.
Both Netanyahu's election and that of current Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon are direct results of Israeli responses to Palestinian violence,
Spector asserted, adding that the attitude of Israeli voters was,
in both cases, something like "If you want war, we'll give
you war."
Responding to a question from the audience, Spector denied there
is any significant anti-Semitism in the Canadian foreign service
– "I don't think you find any more anti-Semitism in External
Affairs than you do at the Bay," he said – but career
diplomats have a practical reason for sympathizing with the Arab
cause.
"To make a career in that department, you have to identify
with the Arab side," said Spector. There are 21 Arab countries
"and one on the way" and just one Jewish state. Arab countries
are quick to reject any ambassadorial candidates they suspect of
harboring pro-Israeli sentiments, which means career opportunities
are seriously limited for Zionists.
Spector's critique of Canada's foreign policy on the current war
in Iraq was apparently shared by many in the audience. He criticized
the federal government for leading Canada down a road toward international
irrelevance.
"We are not the Canada of Lester Pearson," said Spector.
"We don't know where we stand."
Pat Johnson is a journalist and commentator.
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