Allow Obama to lead the peace process

Ghassan Michel Rubeiz
August 3, 2009, 2009

East Meredith, New York



President Obama is heroically facing domestic and international challenges on many fronts. On the issue of peace, oOur President is working on promoting a lasting security for Israel through a peace deal with the Arabs. But he is
willing to risk political capital by promoting peace. He is also showing great courage in health reform. Simultaneously, Obama is seeking universal health coverage for Americans and working on promoting lasting security for Israel through a peace deal with Arabs.

Just as Obama is meeting stiff resistance from misinformed politicians who confuse universal health care with communism he is facing hurdles from politicians who misconstrue justice-based peace with one-sided advocacy.

Defending Israel, overprotective legislators are trying to slow the growing momentum for a promising Middle East peace process. Last week, Senators Evan Bayh (D-IN) and James Risch (R-ID) circulated a letter to fellow senators for joint signatures. The letter asks President Obama to lean on Arab states to show "dramatic gestures” toward Israel.
The letterIt requests Arab leaders to open new borders, expand cooperation and improve rhetoric toward the Zionist state. Strangely, this legislative move did not include any reciprocal obligation to stop the expansion of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories. The senators from Indiana and Idaho should realize that the Arab states are not in a position now to make new promises beyond the 2002 peace plan which in itself was a far reaching and dramatic offer.

On the surface, the senators’ letter looks fair and balanced; it demands all sides to work for peace. But the pivotal message of the letter is that Arabs states are not doing their best for peace, whereas Israel is. The circulated document also gives the false impression that Obama is rushing for peace before asking the Arab states to commit to normalizing relations. This is not true; moreover unilateral letter it threatens to undermine is threatening the orchestrated team work on the peace process which is now operating on a covert level to Locally, the Obama team is covertly working to make all sides as flexible as possible in preparation for end-game negotiations.

In fact, the Bayh-Risch letter is counterproductively serving to strengthen Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line posture. The Prime Minister considers freezing expansion of illegal housing as an admission of guilt. NetanyahuThis Israeli leader resents the challenge to his unfounded belief that settlements exist for Israel’s security and he . Netanyahu viewssees the willingness to freeze settlements as a one-sided concession. Settlements, for him, are bargaining chips.

The letter is problematic from another angle. The senators from Indiana and Idaho should realize recall that the Arab states are not in a position now to make new promises beyond the 2002 peace offerplan which still stands today, stipulates a . This seven-year old peace offer is game-changing and dramatic. In this two-state scenario, in which Israel will beis allocated 78 % of the disputed land between the east bank of the Jordan river and the Mediterranean and while the Palestinian state is will be allocated 22%: the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Twenty-two Arab states have pledged to normalize relations with Israel. This pledge implies willingness to absorb millions of Palestinian refugees from Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. What more “dramatic steps” should Arab States be offering, in response to the letter?

To implement the 2002 peace plan of the Arab states will require hard work, reconciliation and forgiveness from each side. Progress at the negotiating table is bound to generate good will and improve Arab–Jewish relations.

Once allowed to unfold, the peace process is expected to generate the “dramatic gestures” the senators anticipate in their distracting letter. Dramatic improved relations will emerge when refugees accept compensation for loss of land and when Israel accepts a shared Jerusalem.

More drama anticipated? The parameters of this peace process are aimed at making Hamas accept Israel and, in turn, making Israel change its tone of communication about Arabs.

More reconciliation required? Progress in negotiations is expected to make Arabs recognize the suffering of all Jews, including those who have emigrated under pressure from the Arab world. Movement in negotiations would lead Israelis to admit the suffering they caused in displacing Palestinians.


Is theThe letter is asking for the products of peace prematurely.? It is tThrough negotiations that, Arabs and Israelis willould stop their mutual demonizing. The breakthrough in peace will come when Arabs and Jews commit to working together to deal with poverty, water shortages, ecological threats, health hazards and minority rights.

US Congress could separately send a pastoral letter praising the peace process and asking the Arab and Jewish communities to facilitate the peace process through their media, their schools and their religious institutions.

The Bayh-Ricsch letter is based on a misconception that in rushing to appease Arabs, President Obama is ignoring basic security needs of Israel. The Senators who will sign this letter are not serving the long term interest of Israel. Both sides are about ready to start the talks on a game changing peace product.

Published by Search for Common Ground News Services