PEACE?
by Walid Zafar
Israel and the Palestinians went gone
back to the peace process for the first time in seven years on Monday and
Israel foreign minister Tzipi Livni has stated that Israel is “prepared to
make significant territorial concessions” if they will bring about peace
and security. Notwithstanding the fact
that Israel is not negotiating with the democratically elected government,
there seems to be great optimism for a settlement that will finally bring some
semblance of peace to the region. Peace
is always better than perpetual war but let us be realistic.
There can never be peace when
there are such great disparities in bargaining power. Negotiations are between equals. If the parties are equals, than it boils down
to the stronger dictating. Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert has ordered an effective halt to new construction in
settlements, something that many commentators in the West see as Israel’s
willingness to achieve peace. One
problem. Israel does not view building
on West Bank land it has annexed to Jerusalem as settlement.
What are the prospects for
peace? Well, on the first day of negotiations,
Israel launched a missile attack in the Gaza strip which killed three
Palestinians and conveniently enough for Israel, the bombing was close to the
home of Ismail Haniya. Israel is notorious
for its use of such bombings, what they call ‘targeted killings.’ When you consider that the Gaza strip is the
most densely populated place in the entire world, the word ‘targeted’ becomes
meaningless.
What are the prospects for
peace? As it stands, very slim. As mentioned, the negotiations are not
between equal parties. Most important is
that Israel’s economy is built, designed and constructed on a security apparatus. While most Israelis want peace, the sad truth
is that war is the lifeline of the Israeli economy.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:38 am
I think that’s a bit of an overstatement that war is the lifeline of Israeli economy. Israel is very prosperous in many aspects especially in computer technology and business in general. Sure, Israel is very invested in it’s constant conflict with Palestine but take the US backing out of the equation and there isn’t as much power behind sustaining that conflict. I’d just be careful in stating that Israel really intends to benefit off of the conflict.
Both groups are backed into a corner here, just depends on which side of the room.
Reply
January 15th, 2008 at 3:44 am
In the words of Nation writer Naomi Klein
“Israel’s economy isn’t booming despite the political chaos that devours the headlines, but because of it. This phase of development dates back to the mid-nineties, when Israel was in the vanguard of the information revolution – the most tech-dependent economy in the world. After the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, Israel’s economy was devastated, facing its worst year since 1953. Then came 9/11, and suddenly new profit vistas opened up for any company that claimed it could spot terrorists in crowds, seal borders from attack and extract confessions from closed-mouthed prisoners”
for entire article from CommonDreams, http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/15/1901/
The military industrial complex does not mean that no other industry exists, simply that one industry has too much power.
Reply
January 16th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
That last point is interesting. I never considered the idea that Israel’s economy is based on a military apparatus and thus peace is unatainable. There is some truth to that, but we do have positive (if not ideal) relations with Eygpt and Jordan now, and certainly Eygpt represents a political system where division between government and the military is non-existant. The US too has a military based economy in the sense that much of modern America was designed in preperation for a massive world war and tens of millions of people are employed in defense related industries. Whatever economy Palestine has is also significantly military related, and I believe Hamas and Fahtah are the two largest employers in the Palestinian areas.
The big issue of course is Jerusalem. Not only is it spiritually significant to all parties concerned, it’s a mecca (excuse the phrase)for pilgrims and tourists who drop massive amounts of cash into the local economy (just as Bethlehem does/did for Palestine). No city has successfully been divided or “internationalized” in history (take Berlin as an example) and thus I’m skeptical that Jerusalem – the lynchpin of peace in the Middle East (within the Jewish/Arab construct at least) – can be resolved.
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January 16th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
The comparison can be made with where the United States is headed. It is one of the main reasons that people oppose the contractors and mercenaries in Iraq. When there is a profit to be made from war, or ‘security’, than it is in the best interest of those who gain economically to continue the conflict. Leaving Iraq would be bad business for Blackwater and a peace settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be bad business for the defense industry in Israel. Hamas and Fatah are the biggest employers in Palestine by default because the economy, as much as many to like to accept it, is shut down by Israel.
Reply
April 12th, 2012 at 3:03 pm
[...] born in Kabul, according to an online biography, has written critically about Israel in the past, alleging that the Jewish state “is notorious for its use of such bombings, what they call ‘targeted [...]