October 3, 2006
This week in Israel….. Behind the news with Gershon Baskin
The Vinograd committee established by the Israeli government to investigate the performance of the army and the government will formally begin its hearings on October 4 with the first witness appearing General Amos Yadlin, the head of military intelligence. The lack of intelligence (literally) in this war was one of the more apparent failings.
The public demonstrations against the committee are still continuing, yet somewhat toned down in numbers, however, a new “wall-to-wall coalition” has developed that is still calling for a National Investigation headed by a Supreme Court Judge that would not be subordinate to the Government. The new coalition has representatives from Meretz on the left all the way to Yisrael Beitenu on the right. All of them have no confidence in the Vinograd committee, being convinced that Olmert and other government officials will not be subjected to any real interrogation and will not be held responsible for the less than satisfactory performance of the government and the army in the war. A charge against the secretary of the Vinograd committee was made on Israel radio yesterday by one of the members of the coalition stating that he is a political activist in Kadima. Later in the evening the charge was denied, but the general feeling of the public, demonstrated by the extremely low and decreasing approval rating of Olmert, is that the Vinograd committee will not place personal responsibility on anyone with power. In the end, fault will be found with some officers and some lower level government employees and the guys up top will stay sparkling clean. The spin machines will work overtime and Olmert, Peretz and Halutz will be able to continue on as if no war took place at all.
Tzipi, where are you?
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni let it be known that she actually opposed expanding the war beyond the first few days of Israeli response and retaliation for the Hizbollah attack on July 25. Her silence in public throughout the war was not a reflection of her support for the war, but her sense of duty to provide public support while the canons were firing, the missiles were falling and the troops were on the front lines. It would have been nice to hear some descent within the government against the war. It is a pity that she did not understand that her sense of duty to the public would have been fulfilled much more constructively if she had led an opposition to the war from within the government, she would have found several other “shy” ministers to stand with her.
The same can be said today when it appears that the government has absolutely no direction and has offered the public absolutely no hope for anything better. Even President Bush declared in the United Nations that he intends to dedicate the remainder of his administration to working on Israeli-Palestinian peace. Where is the initiative of the Government of Israel? All we hear from Jerusalem is rejection. “No” is not a good enough response when we are dealing with the future and the fate of the State of Israel. The Saudis and the Arab League have an initiative – a pretty good one that should have been accepted by Israel for advancing peace a long time ago. If Israel has rejected this offer of peace with 22 Arab countries, where is the Israeli alternative proposal? Tzipi Livni should be on the front lines proposing the alternatives. Olmert is in the spin-shop busy trying to fix the damages of his poor judgment and bad decision making. Tzipi Livni’s admission that she was against the expansion of the war is a credit to her intelligence and understanding of the region. Now we expect her to step forward and to demonstrate some real leadership. That in itself could provide some sense of hope.
Israel and the Palestinian internal fighting
Most Israeli spokespeople have declared that Israel has nothing to do with the internal Palestinian fighting and the possibility of a civil war in the Palestinian territories. This is far from the truth. The Israeli government has hoped for years for a civil war in Palestine constantly recalling from their own history the Altalena event when Prime Minister David Ben Gurion ordered the attack on the ship of weapons being brought into the new state by Etzel leader Menechem Begin. That attack led to the death of sixteen fighters, more than 200 arrested and a ship of arms was lost. The end result was that in the new born state of Israel, after that affair, there was only one army and only the government had the authority to give it orders.
The current confrontations between Hamas and Fatah are perhaps unavoidable, but they are not necessarily in the interest of the State of Israel. Israel should not be interested in a wounded and bleeding Palestinian society. Much of the current troubles inside of the Palestinian territories are a result of the inability of the Hamas elected government to govern. Those troubles are largely caused by the withholding of donor funds and the monies held by the Government of Israel. Some $50 million dollars a month in customs clearances and VAT payments are collected by the Government of Israel according to the Paris Protocol, the economic annex of the Oslo agreements. Those funds have been withheld by Israel illegally from the PA by the since February 2006. In addition to the international boycott of the donor community against the Hamas, there is simply no possibility to govern.
The Palestinian attempts to create a new national unity government were making progress until they reached a deadlock, apparently instigated by exiled Hamas leader in Damascus, Khaled Mashal. I was in Gaza the day before the deadlock ensued. Dr. Ghazi Hamad, the spokesman of the Hamas government told me “we have come to the conclusion that neither Hamas nor Fatah can govern alone, so we must work together. We have agreed on all of the principles for working together, now we have to agree on the division of labor and the appointments to the government”. This was quite encouraging, but the next day everything broke down with statements from Khaled Mashal that were later followed by statements by Ismail Haniyeh against the agreement.
In some quarters in Israel there was almost a sigh of relief that the Palestinians were not successful. Many people correctly believe that if the Palestinians could put their house in order, a new round of international pressure would come to bear down on Israel. The international pressure is working on the Palestinian side. The understanding that the Hamas government cannot continue to exist on its own without coming to terms with at least some of the international demands is a direct outcome of that pressure.
The most important international demand on the Hamas is the demand to cease using violence. This should be the main focus of pressure on Hamas, but at the same time, it should not be expected that the Palestinians will lay down their arms while under daily attack by Israel. There is an urgent need for a bilateral ceasefire which will be monitored by the international community. The Hamas and all Palestinian factions must cease their attacks against Israel, but Israel too must end its policy of targeted killings, mass arrests and daily incursions into the Palestinian territories.
The continued internal violence in the Palestinian territories will not bring the kidnapped soldier home and will not create more Palestinian desire to enter into negotiations with Israel. History has shown us that internal Palestinian violence and fighting is never good for Israel. Israel should want strong and peaceful neighbors, not weakened and broken down neighbors.
A new Israeli peace offensive might also help to bring the Palestinians to understand that they too must focus their attention on ending the conflict with Israel and getting back to negotiations.
Gershon Baskin is the Co-CEO of IPCRI – the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information
