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February 13, 2009
Lack of trust extends conflict
Former Canadian ambassador speaks about Middle East peace.
RHONDA SPIVAK
"I am not very optimistic that there will be peace between Israel and the Palestinians and the Arab world in the near future," said Michael Bell, a former Canadian ambassador to Israel, the Palestinian territories, Egypt and Jordan, in a recent visit to Winnipeg on Jan. 28.
Bell, who gave the keynote address at the University of Manitoba's Middle East Conference, said , "The problem in arriving at a two-state solution has been that both Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas were too weak politically to sell an agreement to their people."
However, Bell said that the Olmert government and the Palestinian Authority's Abbas "had been very close to reaching an agreement" over which territory was to become a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.
Bell also said that the Israeli "barrier" (separation fence) built in the West Bank, which "resulted in a significant decrease of terror attacks," was not exactly going to be the final border, because it was "accepted" that there could be land swaps.
Bell was Canada's ambassador to Jordan (1987-'90), Egypt (1994-'98) and Israel (1990-'92 and 1999-2003) and is currently the Paul Martin Senior Scholar in Diplomacy at the University of Windsor. He was interviewed following his lecture.
In the interview, Bell referred to a map that is on the website of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (www.fmep.org), titled "Projection of Prime Minister Olmert's final status map – October 2008." Bell considered this map to be an accurate reflection of what Olmert and Abbas had generally agreed to, albeit not publicly.
As Bell noted, in the map, the Israelis would keep major settlement blocs, including Ariel in the West Bank, and would swap other land to be given to the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinians would get land in the Negev, near Gaza, and in the Jordan Valley, south of Beit Shean.
"The idea is that the Palestinians would get 22 per cent of what was Palestine between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River under the British Mandate," Bell said.
In a Jan. 2 article in the Globe and Mail, Bell wrote: "Hamas is a radical, political-Islamic organization. There are those who think that bringing its leadership into dialogue and negotiation would facilitate concord and, in the longer run, pave the way to a comprehensive peace between Israel and Palestine. They suggest reconciliation between Hamas, on the one hand, and the Palestinian Authority and Fatah, on the other. There is, however, nothing to indicate this is possible, except perhaps wishful thinking. Hamas and Fatah are rivals.... These rivals will not work together, nor can Hamas, which rejects the very concept of a Jewish state, be trusted to negotiate in good faith."
Bell also wrote: "If there are Palestinian partners for peace, they are the Palestinian Authority and Fatah, despite their many imperfections and weaknesses. If Western countries ever want to see peace in the Middle East, they must embolden Israelis to meet the basic needs of Palestinians for dignity and self-respect. Without real movement on West Bank roadblocks, Israeli settlements and the prospect of real independence, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his supporters will be viewed more and more as Israeli quislings. Moderates must be bolstered and empowered. They must be seen by their populations as able to deliver on basic aspirations. Only in this way will extremism lose its appeal."
Bell said that each side has demonized the other. He said that, when he lived in Israel, Israelis used the phrases, "Arab work" to mean "shoddy work" or, if they wanted to tell someone off they would say, "Go drink the sea in Gaza." Bell said the Palestinians also have demonizing phrases, but he did not give examples.
According to Bell, "both Israelis and Palestinians have identities as victims," and neither wants to recognize that the other is a victim, out of fear that this would be seen as weakening one's own claim to the land.
For example, Bell said that, when Golda Meir said the Palestinians weren't a people, "it was egregious to them, because it denied their ability to define themselves." When Yasser Arafat denied that the Temple Mount in Jerusalem was the site of the Jewish Temple, despite "strong" archeological evidence, Bell said "it was a cheap shot."
Bell said he supports the United States' involvement in mediating the conflict, since there is "not enough trust between the parties.
"[At Camp David in 2000] Ehud Barak was afraid that, if a proposal appeared to be an Israeli one, the Palestinians wouldn't accept it, so he had Clinton make some proposals instead," Bell said.
"The Palestinians were very reluctant to put forward ideas [at Camp David] because they were afraid of being portrayed in Arab society and by Arab regimes as betraying their people," he added.
Bell's wife, Linda, who was at the event, said that, when the couple lived in Israel, she was in West Jerusalem, very near the site of an attack by a suicide bomber. She said that she thought that, in the latest conflict, Israelis chose to react in a "harsh" manner to rockets launched by Hamas from Gaza "because it was [for Israel] a kind of show and tell for Iran."
Rhonda Spivak is a Winnipeg freelance writer and the editor of the Jewish Post and News.
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