All my life I have dreamed of peace and harmony with the Palestinians and Arabs, for the benefit of both people. I also have been a democrat all my adult life. I believe we should help the underprivileged in our country and the world. I have dedicated many years to world peace and I believe that a more cooperative and peaceful world are critically important, but I am not an idealist. Idealists, by definition, are not realistic. They often believe so much in the optimum that they neglect essential realities and the lessons in front of them. I have been especially concerned for a long time about president Obama plans for Israel, and unfortunately my concerns seem to be founded.

There is considerable arrogance in an administration, or any person, who comes to a top position and considers every prior leader incapable and/or mistaken. I know how to solve the problem, the previous presidents were either too friendly to Israel or were incapable of seeing the facts.

Louis Hale, the American foreign-policy thinker from the 1950, explained that if you were clinging to a flawed image of the world, no amount of dexterous policy execution could save you from disaster. [The age of Unthinkable]. That is the reason why one US administration after another, for sixty years, has tried to promote peace in the Middle East and failed. Actually the US often tried to impose peace on Israel as if Israel is the cause of the Arab-Israeli conflicts. Since Israel is somewhat under the thumb of the US, it can dictate to the Israeli government whatever it wants, when Congress is not objecting. [That is why AIPAC’s education of Congress is so critical]

Here is the basic scenario: Israel is a country governed by a central government elected by its people, the ONLY democracy in the region. The Israeli government have the ability to force its laws (generally, but not on the Israeli Arab population). So when the US dictates demands to the Israeli government, the Israeli population has to abide by it.
Often, to encourage peace between two nations you influence both leaderships by the carrot and stick technique to find some compromise. Some times it works if you have real carrots and sticks, and the partners ARE WILLING.
But in the Arab-Israeli situation the US can put pressure only on Israel. The Palestinians do what they want, they are not governed by a central government. The Palestinians are loose arrangements of local tribes, powerful families, and endless numbers of small self-governed groups.

Since one US administration after another can not control the Arab streets and people, the only option the US really see is to pressure the Israelis. There is no central control by Fatah and when there is any control it is oriented to the destruction of Israel. All the media in the Palestinian areas is influenced by the desire to eradicate Israel. The education system is geared to the destruction of Israel in particular and Jews and the US in general. So, now, the new, inexperienced Obama administration comes with a new idea, we will show the Arab world we are their friends by pressuring Israel further then before.

Will this lead to any improvement in the prospect for a peaceful coexistence with the Palestinians? Why should it? They will demand more concessions and more billions of dollars. The carrot work for them very well. The Palestinians receives the highest per person monetary support in the world, by a great measure more than people with so much larger needs, but are not oriented to kill us.
Why is the US is the main financial supporter of the Palestinians? Ponder that sometime.

There is no clear benefit to the younger Palestinian generation, over 60% of the population, to seek peace. For 60 years they were raised on Western subsidies, and on a deep hatred towards the Jews and Israel. Killing Israelis is the core honor among many Palestinians. Any one with initiative, desire for a better life, left a long time ago. The majority that remain do not want peace, but eradicating Israel. Listen to their own media, not to the idealist Western media who sanitizes all information that disturbs the Western mind. The ruthless murders of Palestinians by Palestinians are frequent examples. I showed a documentary of Palestinian hatred in their own media to a friend of mine, an idealist Jew, and he was so angry at me for exposing him to the facts on the Arab streets. The reality disturbed his idealism.

So, once again, the US puts pressure on Israel so that the Palestinians will change their attitude and agree to live-and-let-live coexistence with Israel. A nice dream, but devoid of reality. As long as we assume that the Palestinians think and feel the way we feel, we are destined to fail. The Israeli political left has nearly disappeared in the last five years. Most Israelis finally learned that they have no one to talk with. It was a hard lesson. The Obama administration is still clueless and will experiment at the price of Israel.

That is not the way the Arab mind works for centuries. Each Arab country is for its self; the Palestinian cause is not their central concern. Most Arab governments and their citizens despise the Palestinians. No Arab country allowed Palestinians to be normal citizens. Each state, each tribal unit, each family is for itself. Honor is preferred to life.

When the Western world accepts these realities in the Arab world, we may be able to encourage changes in attitudes, and education, as a basis for all future peaceful coexistence.

What is needed is slow process of change in the Palestinian mind, but if it possible in the repressive Arab Middle East, it will take decades. Some security improvements, however, were developed by Israel’s drive to create a local Palestinian police force. That is a beginning that allowed Israel to reduce its forces in the West Bank, and help the Palestinians to govern themselves.
This change and further, more encompassing ones, could not be forced by famous, high titled outsiders, in a media atmosphere, bringing in one political envoy after another. It has to be done quietly, by dedicated, non-famous experts who work continuously and closely with the limited number of moderates Palestinians to encourage the right internal changes in that undemocratic society.

Matania
7/09
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