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Sharon's Logic on a Gaza Pullout

(Beirut Daily Star) Gerald M. Steinberg - Until there is a credible Palestinian leadership to disarm the various factions and implement a lasting accord based on the two-state model, negotiations are not going to end the conflict, and may add to the violence. The evolution of a pragmatic Palestinian leadership anchored in basic societal changes will take many years or decades. Until then, the Geneva Initiative and other paper concepts discussed under Arafat's watchful eye simply lack credibility, and public relations campaigns supported by the EU will not change this situation. Under these conditions, unilateral disengagement has become the least bad option. In the absence of what academics and policymakers refer to as "ripeness" - in terms of broad societal readiness to make realistic compromises - Israel needs to define pragmatic de facto borders. This is not a peace plan, and political and diplomatic issues related to the 1949 cease-fire line - the "green line" - are irrelevant. Israel's unilateral withdrawal will give the Palestinians far less than would have resulted from an agreement with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak four years ago. For Israel's Arab citizens, separation means an end to the unfettered access to the West Bank that they have enjoyed since 1967. The writer is director of the program on conflict management and negotiation at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.
2004-02-16 00:00:00
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