Nov. 3 marked the 15th anniversary of the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. To honor the work of his late friend and ally, former president Bill Clinton penned an op-ed in the New York Times with hopes that Rabin’s work toward peace could continue.
Before being assassinated by an Israeli radical while speaking in Tel Aviv, Rabin famously shook the hand of Yasir Arafat and asked the Palestinian people to be Israel’s partner in peace.
Today a different Clinton is responsible for securing stability in the region; and she seems to be making positive strides.
On Nov. 11, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for eight hours in New York to discuss a possible 90-day, non-renewable settlement freeze in order to bring Palestinians back to the negotiating table.
Negotiations began last September to great fanfare, as President Barack Obama met with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Washington. At the time, Israel’s 10-month building freeze was near expiration. When it expired, Israelis resumed building homes, schools, and other buildings in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. As a result, the Palestinian delegation walked out on the negotiations because of Israel’s persistence in building on lands that could be part of a Palestinian State.
Clinton’s proposal of another building-freeze comes with the hope that Palestinians will return to the negotiating table and that once the 90 days are up the Palestinians will want to continue.
Netanyahu believes that his cabinet will agree to the housing freeze as long as the U.S. provides a written agreement of the terms. But, Abbas has not been so positive.
The proposed building freeze does not include East Jerusalem, which Palestinians hope will eventually be the capitol of their state. Excluding this in the freeze could be a deal breaker for Abbas.
Abbas is justified in questioning America’s choice of currency, but he, and the Palestinians, needs to be more willing to negotiate with Israel. Israel has constantly made concessions in order to negotiate with Palestinians, and Palestinians need to return the favor.
Israelis are not against the idea of a Palestinian State, but they worry that the proximity of one with a capitol in East Jerusalem would be dangerous for the Israelis living there.
Until Palestinians are willing to recognize the State of Israel, acknowledge the necessity of a state for the Jewish people and become a true partner in peace, any agreement would be nothing more than hollow words.
Israel is a liberal, democratic oasis in a desert of Arab nations that have historically been bent on its destruction. And while Israel has established tentative peace agreements with some of its neighbors, it still harbors fear that establishing a Palestinian state within its current borders would be dangerous for its safety.
I truly hope that Netanyahu’s cabinet and the Palestinian Authority accept Clinton’s proposed freeze and that all parties are able to negotiate effectively.
I hope that a Palestinian state ruled by Fatah is established and that Hamas is ousted.
But until Palestinians are able to return to the negotiating table and compromise, as Israel has done, the peace that Mr. Rabin and Mr. Clinton envisioned will have to wait.
Reach the reporter at bnegley@asu.edu
