Democracy Colin Powell style, an end run to the left of a freely elected government. He's out Clintoned Clinton.
Posted on 11/21/2003 8:24:08 AM PST by SJackson
Hefty Geneva document mailed to every home
Some households torch alternative pact in protest
JERUSALEM—Peace landed on Israel's doorstep with a thump this week, all 47 pages of it.
Whether it's worth the paper it is printed on remains to be seen. But as of today, the contentious Geneva Agreement, a document crafted behind the backs of the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships, stands as something unprecedented in the century-plus history of the world's most intractable conflict.
Never before have Israelis and Palestinians so intricately mapped out an answer to the conflict by mutual accord, replete with detailed solutions for the issues of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, illegal Israeli settlements and Arab recognition of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state.
And never before have they mass-mailed the answer directly to the people, regardless of what their politicians say.
No fewer than 1.9 million copies of the Hebrew document are now in Israeli hands, one for each household. Next week, the Geneva pact's backers are to distribute a comparable number in Arabic to the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza. Also on the presses are Russian copies to sate the curiosity of Israel's estimated one million post-Soviet immigrants.
Already, there are reports of some Israeli households burning the pact in protest, and others simply trashing them without so much as a glance.
One household to reject the document outright was that of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The pact's primary Israeli architect, former justice minister Yossi Beilin, was turned away by Sharon's aides Sunday when he tried to hand-deliver a copy.
Indeed, Sharon's well-publicized scorn for the draft agreement, crafted during more than two years of negotiation between Israeli leftists and several leading Palestinian figures, has inadvertently helped its cause, according to Geneva's backers.
"The reaction so far is anecdotal, but the early response indicates a real public movement is starting to build," Daniel Levy, one of the agreement's Israeli negotiators, said yesterday.
"It made major headlines for 10 days, which was significantly helped by Sharon's hysteria. And now, suddenly, we are seeing the government moving from the passive-aggressive pattern of the last three years to a point where they want to show themselves to be ready to start talking with Palestinians again."
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has been more accommodating, saying he welcomes any effort to bring an end to the conflict, despite the unofficial nature of the Geneva plan. One of Arafat's most senior officials spoke glowingly yesterday in an off-the-record briefing for the foreign press, vowing the Palestinian Authority's full endorsement.
Internationally, Geneva has been boosted by words of encouragement from U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan; the latter saying it "deserves our praise and encouragement as a courageous attempt to break the stalemate on both sides." British Prime Minister Tony Blair endorsed it as "a chance to look beyond current difficulties."
Other analysts say Geneva's arrival may mark a turning point in the conflict, coinciding with a critical mass of war fatigue for both Israelis and Palestinians.
"I got it, I read it, and all things considered, it's probably a pretty good model of where we are likely to end up if we do ever end up with an agreement," said political scientist Mark Heller of Tel Aviv University's Jaffee Centre for Strategic Studies.
"Nobody reasonably expects it to be adopted as is. But it may stimulate and shake up the status quo, because it taps in to an awakening impatience that, after three years of virtual stagnation, we need to snap out of it."
Among other things, the proposal calls for Israel and a future Palestinian state to share Jerusalem as their respective capitals. It would also allow a limited number of Palestinians to return to their former homes in what is now Israel and let some Jewish settlers keep their homes on occupied land.
Geneva's arrival coincides with the return of Egyptian government mediators for new rounds of ceasefire talks. Many watchers cite the draft as one among a flurry of initiatives — including growing pressure from Washington to contain the conflict as the U.S. struggles for control in Iraq — that could force Sharon and his new Palestinian partner, Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, to resume negotiations.
Yet pessimism is easily found. Many analysts predict that without a dramatic escalation of pressure by Washington, any potential ceasefire, is likely to be as short-lived as the one that collapsed last summer, ultimately causing the downfall of former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.
Qureia goes by the nom de guerre Abu Ala; Abbas goes by Abu Mazen. Thus, warned Heller, "the difference this time is there is a fear on the Palestinian side that if this Abu goes the way of the last Abu, there won't be another.
"Should that happen, we will all be stuck in a mess, a morass, with nobody but Arafat, who will be unable to take the Palestinians anywhere without a major transformation in his behaviour."
Heller concedes, however, that Sharon is facing for the first time "significant domestic pressure to do something more than focus on security.
"The conclusion is things might just get better, because there are reasons to believe these leaders face greater pressure. I'm just not sure they are all that solid."
In the meantime, the Geneva document will continue arriving in homes on both sides, delivering food for thought. The project's next major stage comes next month with a formal signing ceremony in the city from whence it takes its name. The document is available on the Web at http://www.heskem.org.il.
"The Israelis behind Geneva are still under attack," said Levy. They are now battling the Israeli Broadcast Authority, which refuses to air their radio ads "which simply encourage people to read the document and decide for themselves.
"But the more they bury us, the more people take notice, which is our goal."
Democracy Colin Powell style, an end run to the left of a freely elected government. He's out Clintoned Clinton.
Sedition here, not illegal in Israel. One must wonder if Colin is thinking of recognizing an "Israeli Government in Exile", perhaps in Europe. It's about the only diplomatic justification for this type of maneuver.
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