OPINION:Demanding that Israel freeze settlements confuses the process of negotiation with its outcome, writes BOAZ MODAI
LAST SUNDAY, the 10-month moratorium on settlement activity in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), announced by the Israeli government as a one-time confidence-building measure to encourage the start of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, came to an end. It is worth recalling exactly what this moratorium involved: it was a freeze on all new housing construction within existing settlements – the building of creches, kindergartens, schools, synagogues, community centres, even the addition of extra rooms in houses to accommodate growing families. US secretary of state Hillary Clinton rightly called it “unprecedented”.
It is also worth recalling the moratorium came eight months after Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, on the day he was sworn in early in 2009, had called for direct negotiations with the Palestinians and announced the new government would build no new settlements or expropriate additional land for existing settlements, a policy that remains in force.
In the subsequent months, the government took many concrete actions to improve the daily lives of Palestinians and to create a favourable climate for negotiations. Hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints were dismantled and bureaucratic obstacles to Palestinian economic development removed. Thanks to these measures, and the improved security environment due to the efforts of both the Israel Defence Forces and better-trained Palestinian Authority security forces, an economic boom has been in progress in the West Bank, with a growth rate of 9 per cent forecast for this year.
Unfortunately, it was only when three weeks remained of the moratorium that the Palestinian Authority finally re-entered negotiations – and immediately announced that its continuation in the talks was conditional on an extension of the moratorium. It is regrettable that the valuable talks that have now begun, offering the chance of reaching, in Mr Netanyahu’s words, “an historic agreement between our two peoples”, should be endangered by the elevation of what was a confidence-building measure on Israel’s part into a precondition for further talks.
Peace talks should be used as an opportunity to solve differences, not to create new obstacles. The purpose of these negotiations is to find resolutions to major issues of contention such as the settlements. The setting of preconditions is an attempt to prejudge the outcome of the negotiations and can only damage the process.
An editorial in Monday's edition of The Irish Timessought to make the continuation of the moratorium a litmus test of whether the Israeli government would be able to sell painful compromises on settlements to the Israeli people in the future. Such an approach confuses the process of negotiation with its outcome. Neither the practice of conflict resolution nor the historical record of Israel's involvement in peace negotiations offers support for such a linkage.
Israeli settlement activity has never prevented talks in the past. For the last 17 years, Israelis and Palestinians negotiated without the demand for a settlement freeze being a precondition for talks. Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas negotiated with former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert for over a year while settlement building continued – negotiations which president Abbas himself says almost led to an agreement.
Further, Israel has repeatedly demonstrated that the settlement issue does not prevent it making serious concessions for the sake of peace. The peace treaty achieved with Egypt involved the abandonment of an entire town and other settlements in the Sinai and the return of a territory three times bigger than Israel. Israel’s disengagement from Gaza included dismantling the settlements there.
It is natural that both parties should have complaints about each other’s policies and actions. There are several areas of disagreement which Israel, if it wished to do so, could turn into reasons not to negotiate. Every day, the PA fosters incitement against Israel in Palestinian schools and media. The PA also conducts an international campaign to delegitimize Israel. Many Israeli citizens fear that conducting peace talks with President Abbas may be a waste of time when half the Palestinian people are ruled by Hamas, a terror organisation that openly calls for Israel’s destruction.
All these matters could afford Israel legitimate reasons to boycott talks. But Israel is trying to find solutions at the negotiating table, not excuses for walking away from it.
A precious 18 months have been squandered and no more time should be wasted now. Serious negotiations should begin in which Palestinians and Israelis can overcome their differences through dialogue. Israel is open to discuss all the core issues of the conflict, including the future of the Jewish settlements in the disputed territories. The Palestinians will bring their positions to the table and Israel will bring its positions. That is where the settlement issue must be dealt with.
Israel is ready to negotiate a historic peace. I represent both my fellow Israelis as well as my government in urging our Palestinian peace partners not to miss once again a historic opportunity for peace. In the words of prime minister Netanyahu: “I say to President Abbas: For the future of both our peoples, let us focus on what is really important. Let us proceed in accelerated, sincere and continuous talks in order to bring about an historic peace framework agreement within one year.”
Boaz Modai is ambassador of Israel to Ireland