4
Developing an Israeli Grand Strategy toward
a Peaceful Two-State Solution
Palestinians have, over more than half a century gained
intimate knowledge of Israel’s Jewish society and experience
on the working of Israel’s democracy, with all its strengths
and shortcomings.
Kamal Ali Hassan explains that the ongoing radicalization and
the rise of extremist forces in the Middle East, resulting from
the failure of the “Arab Spring” offers a potential opportunity
for the Israeli Palestinian intellectual elite to play a bridging
role. An essential condition for this to occur is the need to
minimize social, political and economic discrimination of
Israel’s Palestinian community and create a reality of Jewish-
Arab civilian equality. The presently ongoing process of
intellectual, social, economic and even political empowerment
of Israel’s Palestinian community may provide supportive
conditions for such a development.
Kamal Ali Hassan further argues that among Israel’s
Palestinian community, three different groups will continue
to play an important role. The intellectual elite, the lower
and middle classes, and last but not least, the group of
the so-called “internal refugees”: those Israeli Palestinians
who were forced to leave their villages within Israel proper,
and need either to return to their former homes, or receive
compensation. Moving forward toward a peaceful Israel-
Palestine two-state solution will make it essential to phase
demands and action wisely. In doing so, a win-win effect
may well be achieved.
Yossi Hen
, discusses the “spoilers”, impeding in the past
and present upon headway towards a two state solution. Yossi
Hen describes the multitude of emotional, psychological,
political, religious and ideological spoilers; the dangerous
gap of narratives, the counter-productive action of various
international actors and more.
He analyzes Israeli policies and defines proposed policy
action within the Israeli body politic; the need to understand
the limits of military power and action; as well as acts needed
for Israel to reach out to the Palestinians, the Arab world
and the international community. He defines Palestinian
and Arab action needed to tip the balance in favor of a
two-state solution in Israel. Last but not least, he suggests
ways and means for a supportive pro-active European and
German policy by asking for a comprehensive strategic
dialogue between Europe and Israel in order to be able to
deal effectively with emerging threats and opportunities.
Ned Lazarus
has written about the task of Civil Society. He
argues that civil society work has to address in Israel three
different target groups:
•
The peace camp
, aiming to create renewed hope among
them; mobilizing activists to build bridges between Jews
and Arabs inside the country and together promote
Israeli-Palestinian cooperation.
•
The “undecided”
, probably a majority of Israelis, who
conceptually still support a two-state solution, but have
lost confidence in its achievability and fear negative
repercussions. Describing proposed security measures
by respected experts; discussing economic confidence
building measures and their potentially positive impact;
evaluating the importance of and demonstrating wider
regional Arab support, and expected ramifications upon
Israel’s relationship with the world will all be necessary.
•
The “Settler and the religious communities”
. If headway
towards a two-state solution will be achieved this group
will undoubtedly have to pay a high price, personally
and ideologically. Lazarus argues that civil society work,
particularly towards this target group, is the major, most
essential challenge and hints that most important headway
has already been made, whereas a well-planned outreach
campaign is still necessary.
Roie Ravitzky
writes about the importance to obtain Jewish
and Islamic religious legitimacy for the peace-making
process. In essence, Ravitzky stresses four major points:
1. During the entire past experience of Israeli-Palestinian
peace negotiations, the religious leadership and
communities have been excluded from the peace-making
process. Worse, the peace-making effort has been
identified on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide
with an effort in support of secularization, and thus has
caused substantial opposition from within the religious
communities.
2. In both societies, in Israel and Palestine, it is the religious
leadership who can offer legitimacy to peace. Without their
blessing, internal opposition will most probably be too
powerful and will tend to undermine the implementation
of agreements concluded.
3. The radicalized inhumane and largely criminalized
activity of militant Islamic groups, and of Jewish religious
fringe elements, has created an understanding among
a majority of religious leaders of the need for dialogue
and compromise. Moral considerations, but also the fear
of further radicalization, provide an important basis for
an all-inclusive Jewish-Islamic religious dialogue that
has to be pursued, separately from narrow political
considerations.
4. Much headway has been achieved during the last
years. (Roie Ravitzky who works together with Rabbi
Michael Melchior, is all too modest in this context) and
the foundations for a peace-building dialogue have been
laid. The tendency of the Islamic and Jewish religious
leadership is to accept change on the ground, and the
de facto emergence of a two-state reality, as a God
given imperative, even if this is in contrast to ideological
teachings. At the same time the creation of a moral and
religious environment that is not confrontational within
each society, and between the Israeli and Palestinian
societies, is understood as
a sine qua non
, that has to
accompany not only negotiations but the process of
implementation.
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