As the inaugural post on this blog.... I guess that a vision, or an agenda would probably be the logical way to set up further contributions.. yet from what i personally have learnt this year within the School and beyond, there are countless opinions for each person engaged in the conflict, so whoever can be bothered to read... please take in that this is only representative of my own views... and whoever we manage to get to contribute on here in the coming months and throughout the year ahead will do so upon their own platforms. Debate is crucial, the varying perspectives within such debate even more so.
My history teachers have and always will despise my persistence in using a football match as the foundations for an analogy on any past or present political situation. "Its distastefully childish, simplistic, unnecessary and quite idiotic"to quote one of them this year. Yet.. that is what this conflict has become. A point scoring phenomenon in which the two teams do precious else other than to pursue their own agendas, to win the match. Outside the formal politics, the star players in this growing trend.. an inability to converse like civilized human beings.. with stunts, stalls and polarizing speakers, especially on campus, increasingly pushing the moderates back into a protective shell of disengagement, disenchantment and disinterest.
Within the formalities, progress is worryingly thin. Characterized by complete silence, each side is firmly holding to its own tactics. The internationally recognized Palestinian leadership presents its requirements for a two-state solution, but will not discuss the matter until Israel stops building settlements in the West Bank. The coalition in charge in Israel at the moment wont present any form of peace plan whatsoever... it insists there must be no preconditions, not even a partial building freeze.
Yossi Beilin, a key architect of the Oslo Agreement, in a recent Haaretz article, probably best summed the current gridlock up "Netanyahu's government is not ready to pay even the minimal price demanded by the pragmatic Palestinian leadership of Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad. The Palestinian leadership is not able to coerce Hamas into accepting its authority and thus cannot include Gaza in any perceivable solution. Thus, even if the two sides were able to sign a permanent agreement, as I hope, it could only be implemented in the West Bank."
The Referee, the Obama administration, has yet to impose itself. Embarrassed upon Biden's arrival last year, with the announcement of new settlement blocks, there has been no tangible advance on returning to the a negotiating table. Granted, the so-called "winds of change" across the Arab world and the continuing commitments to Afghanistan and Iraq has necessitated a greater focus elsewhere, yet with this in mind.. it is notable that the progress before Tunisia's uprising was hardly anything substantial. The Leader of the Free World promised us hope in 2008, if there was a time to prove that this wont be consigned to the list of wonderfullycatchyyetimpossibletotrulyactupon campaign pledges... the Middle East is crying out for it now.
Time then to get everybody back talking again.. with the 20 year anniversary of the Madrid Conference fast approaching, the time is now. The recent tragedies in Itamar, Jerusalem and Gaza, descended upon by the vultures who seek to capitalise politically on bloodshed, should warn us all of the dangers of a stagnant peace process. The Guardian recently groaned that with the release of the Palestine Papers that any belief in progress remains consigned to the minds of the 'Panglossian Optimist'. Im not a fan of labels, but this isn't one to be avoided.
With this, fellow Panglossians.. Arise! Bridges, not boycotts. Substance, not propaganda. Dialogue, not distance. At the grassroots, recent history should tell us a unified voice eventually triumphs. In order to make push those at the top into talking again, a bit of self-assessment would go along way.
B'Shalom...
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