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Feb. 29, 2008
A joint effort is needed
Expert wants international help in Mideast.
RON FRIEDMAN
Before the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, Prof. Efrat Elron was what you'd call a disinterested observer, a detached and objective academic scholar in her chosen field of peace operations. But the war changed things. While most of the public attention was directed to the actual battles and Israel's problems with security readiness, some of the most important decisions were being made in the negotiation of a ceasefire and the formation of a working plan for the "day after." In these discussions, Elron was propelled from being a relatively unknown scholar of an obscure discipline to a coveted expert on urgent issues.
Elron, who is currently a professor at Hebrew University and Tel-Hai College, spoke about her area of specialty before an audience of about 60 people at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCCGV) last week.
"On July 12, 2006, most of us woke up to the sound of war between Israel and the Hezbollah and for many Israelis it really changed their life in many ways," said Elron. "For me, I researched peace operations in general.... I was researching it as an impartial, neutral researcher, looking at the phenomenon of how different militaries from different countries with different interests and motivations and strengths and weaknesses, combine and work together in one peace operation. But once the Lebanon war started, I tried to see how I could bring this knowledge, which is very rare in Israel (only three people are involved in this sort of research), to Israeli decision-makers and to the Israeli public, but also to the international community."
Elron has a vast professional network, made up of Israel Defence Forces officers, government officials, academics, journalists, foreign diplomats, military attachés and other experts both in Israel and abroad. This network enables her to obtain a detailed understanding of her subject matter.
"Nowadays my main professional identity is a researcher at the Truman Centre at the Hebrew University. The research that I'm doing really concentrates on understanding peace operations and what's going on here and how to enhance it, but I took it one step further to see how this co-operation is really just part of wider and larger ongoing process. This is what I have been doing since the Lebanon war," said Elron.
For a country that has a reputation for being extremely independent, usually preferring to do things alone rather than count on multinational coalitions, it may be surprising to hear how much Israel is involved in collaborative efforts and projects. Over the course of the hour and a half lecture, Elron cited numerous examples of developing ties between Israel and other (mostly Western) countries.
For example, she said, "Today, in Israel, was the first day of the first-ever strategic dialogue between Canada and Israel.... A strategic dialogue is when two countries sit together, usually for two or three days and discuss where it is that they can co-operate.... These dialogues are extremely important, this is what creates concrete relationships."
Maj.-Gen. Chris Davis is conducting the conversations with the heads of Israel's military establishment. "This is especially important," explained Elron, "because Davis is going to be Canada's representative in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)."
Elron also spoke about a special meeting between United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Israel's ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, about the Iranian threat.
"Undoubtedly, the experience of the Western world in Afghanistan had a large impact on the relations with Israel," said Elron. "It enhanced the Western world's understanding of what it is to face terror in a daily way, like Israel does."
Israel is no stranger to peace operations. Over the years, it has been the object of five such missions, the most recent of which was the reestablishment of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which was put in place after the 2006 war.
Elron considers some of the most important criticisms to come out of the recently released Winograd Commission report as those having to do with the negotiation of the ceasefire and the implementation of UN resolution 1701.
"It was a case of Israel receiving phone calls and faxes from the American and French officials and having to hastily make decisions," she said. Efron claims that a better understanding of the situation and the other parties is needed, as well as more consideration of other countries' interests and limitations.
Such understanding may even bring about possibilities for a comprehensive solution to the Middle East conflict, suggested Elron. "UNIFIL is a test case for what is possible and may happen as an overall solution to the Middle East as a whole. It can start in the territories, and what we have to ask ourselves is 'What kind of international movement can best suit Israeli interests?'"
Although many in the Israeli security establishment claim that Israel cannot afford to depend on other countries to defend it, Elron thinks that, "Some kind of comprehensive peace operation that includes military forces, economic assistance to the Palestinian Authority and developmental projects ... needs to be considered. I don't know what the conclusion is going to be," she continued, "but, in my opinion, it has to be seriously considered.... In the long term, Israel will not be able to really have a better situation and a livable environment unless there is this international intervention. It's not going to happen just between Israel and Palestine, for many reasons."
Elron's lecture was jointly organized by Canadian Friends of Hebrew University, Canada-Israel Committee and JCCGV.
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