Is peace possible?
Yes peace is possible; on two main conditions however:- Security for Israel
- Independence for Palestinians.
These conditions are complementary not contradictory. The creation of a viable independent Palestinian State will put an end to violence since military occupation, its main reason and cause, will disappear.
What is required for these conditions to be implemented?
Israel is by far the stronger party, it is up to it to take the first move in order to break this vicious circle of violence. Israel should put an end to its military re-occupation with all what this military occupation comes with and follow the diplomatic path of negotiations within the framework of the internationally recognized inalienable rights of the Palestinians. This is the only path for peace.
On the Palestinian side the, PNA and the representatives of the Palestinian people have already done their homework and made the internal transformation required by Israel and by the international community and are ready to go to peace talks.
The Arab world also has clearly expressed its decision to reach a comprehensive peace with Israel in the Arab summit of Beirut (Lebanon) in March 2002.
The roadmap proposed today can be the road to peace. However, we must remember and admit that through military power one can impose a peace treaty on a government but never on the soul of a people. Therefore if with the roadmap it is intended to give Palestinians their fundamental rights, this road will definitely lead to peace and to security also. If on the contrary it intends to impose more limits on Palestinians, limits which will hinder their freedom and independence, this road will never lead to peace. Peace treaties could be reached between the two governments, but the soul of the people will keep on claiming for their full rights.
It is high time to read history and to learn our lessons. This conflict is one hundred years-old now. Israel has won so many military battles, and so far it has been the sole victor, but without peace nor security. Military victories by themselves do not bring about security. Only peace, built on justice and the respect of human rights could bring about security.
Why did not Israelis decide yet to make peace when making peace is in their hands? Why do Israelis continue to refuse to give back to the Palestinians the Territories occupied in 1967, and which are only 5000 km² or 22% of the entirety of historic Palestine, of which the State of Israel today has 78%? Is Israel still harboring the dream of having all of the Palestinian territories, EMPTY, without Palestinians? After 100 years of conflict, it is time to realize that this dream is rather an impossible thing to reach. Today, three million Palestinians live in the Occupied Territories. Israel must face the living Palestinian reality and deal with it. Israel must stop harboring any transfer dream.
Israel does not trust the Palestinians? It fears that they will not be able, once they have their independent state, to be peaceful neighbors? This supposition is unfounded. Manifestations of Palestinian hostility today are not due to inborn hostility against the Israeli people; they are rather an expression of the resistance of the Palestinian people against what they consider as tentative to dispossess them from their land. Once the conflict is over, the hostility will be over too.
If Israel truly does not believe that the end of hostilities is a possibility within the soul of Israelis and Palestinians, then the region is condemned to permanent war and violence. It will be an absolute deadlock for the region and for the survival of Israel in the region. The only way out of this deadlock is to believe in peace and to build it on justice and on equality of rights and duties.
Israel will always be surrounded by Arab countries, including Palestine. Until now, Israel did not succeed to have normal relations with them. The reason is that the policy followed so far by Israel and the international community, to protect the new State of Israel, while maintaining injustices against the Palestinians, have caused and nourished hostile feelings in all Arab countries. If you truly want to protect your friend, you do not surround him with enemies, but rather with friends.
In order to transform neighboring Arab countries into friends, the actual policy should then be changed. This transformation is not an impossibility. It is enough to implement justice for the Palestinians, to put an end to the occupation and to create the State of Palestine. Once the Palestinians are satisfied, once they are free and independent in their state, they will become friendly to Israel. Once the Palestinians are friendly to Israel, the other Arab peoples will be just as friendly. Only in this way, when Israel is surrounded by friends, it will live with the long wished for security.
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