What’s better, a tough to achieve peace, or an easy to achieve conflict? I vote for peace!

I’m reading all the attacks against Annapolis and am shaking my head. The same-old, same-old. Hamas, the settlers and everyone else trashing the Peace Conference make great points. But, the big issue is while they “denounce,” they never “announce.” What I mean is, don’t tell me what you don’t like. Tell me the solution. Those who criticize by denouncing but never offering a real solution are worse than those who are trying to end the conflict through compromise.

I applaud Olmert and Abbas for what they are trying to do. I question the motives of President Bush, an utter fool who helped create the tragedy Palestinians and Israelis have today. We can’t just blame everything on the terrorists Hamas or Ariel Sharon. They share blame but Bush is the culprit who turned his back on the Middle East in 2001 when he took office and allowed the two sides to go at it like pit bulls in a fight to the death battle. Bush has set an artificial deadline to resolve the conflict just in time for him to “define” his legacy. Bush does not want to be remembered as the liar who broke international laws, murdered innocent people in Iraq all so that he could avenge his own father who was insulted by Saddam Hussein, a tyrant America helped create. (Americans are hypocrites when it comes to tyrants. Saddam was a tyrant we hated. Pervez Musharraf is a tyrant we tolerate, yet they are both murderers, killers and should share the same fate but won’t.)

But, Bush aside, here are my thoughts on the speeches of Olmert and Abbas. Abbas seemed forthright to speak about peace. I was a little put off by Olmert’s heavy-handed criticism of the Palestinians suggesting that only the Israelis are victims of terrorism. They’re not. Palestinians are victims of terrorism, too. But, Olmert did, at least for the first time, speak about the need to bring justice to the Palestinian refugees and at least said he understood their dilemma. That is the door to acknowledging Israel’s role in creating the refugee crises and their responsibility to redress and compensate them (just as Jews have been compensated for the injustices committed against them over the years).

At least Olmert and Abbas are trying to do something. What is Ismail Haniyeh suggesting as a plan. A Hudna for 10 years or 100 years so he can conquer Palestinian secualr society and turn it into a religious tyranny? I’d rather live under an Israeli oppression that I could proudly stand up and oppose, than live in his idea of an Islamic country where Christians, Jews and secular Muslims are forced to live as tolerated oppressed. And I am glad Haniyeh isn’t at the peace talks. Let Hamas be isolated and pushed out of the region. Their hateful religious ideology has to be erased — but that is a Palestinian chore that needs to be addressed.

In the meantime, Abbas should push forward and sign an agreement and get what he can. Because when two sides resolve a conflict, that means two sides can work together and the people can rebuild trust. And once trust is rebuilt, anything is possible. The Palestinian mini-state will one day becoime a sovereign and powerful state, regardless of its size. And Israeli interference and games (like claiming they left Gaza but are really like the warden of a prison who walks out and then shuts the door, locking in all the prisoners. That’s not withdrawal, that’s a new form of imprisonment.)

But peace will give the Palestinians a power they don’t even realize they will get. And that leverage will change the future, including for the refugees who will be compensated and will be able to come back to a Palestinian State and rebuild their lives. Maybe not in their original lands and homes taken by the Israeli settlers in 1947-48, but with a future in which their children will have a real future.

Israel has the upperhand and anyone who expects them to act like the magnanimous peace partner is mistaken. The Palestinians are at the disadvantage and no one can expect them to be equals in any negotiations because the position of equality was lost by the 60 years of failure in their conflict with Israel.

There is a middle ground and I suggest that Palestinians and Israelis BOTH start defining it better than they have. Let’s speak openly, not just criticizing each other, but criticizing ourselves. Palestinians need to be honest about the failures of their side, and Israelis need to be honest about the injustices committed by their side int he name of “defending” themselves.

I am hopeful, even if the legion of pessimists and extremists out there are trashing hopes for peace.

Ray Hanania
Jerusalem

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