Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
-- Shakespeare’s Macbeth


Words as they are used in all walks of human life are imbued with a logical and practical purpose. But there are situations in life in which the use of words loses its logical and practical purpose. The situation is sometimes such that nothing anyone says exercises any logical or practical influence whatsoever, and it is just necessary to live with things as they are, The Oslo negotiating process between Israel and the Palestinians has reached that point.

Once upon a time it was different. Palestinian Arabs and Israelis talked to each other on a meaningful plane. Issues were discussed and negotiated in good faith.

The negotiating path wasn’t a smooth or simple ride. But there was a mutual understanding and acceptance of the process – the Oslo Process.

There was a major crisis in the process however in the summer of 2000 when Pres. Clinton organized a Camp David summit for Barak and Arafat.

Barak’s dramatic offer to Arafat at Camp David in the summer of 2000 reportedly included the following proposals to achieve an end to the conflict;

▪ Israeli redeployment from 95% of the West Bank and 100% of the Gaza Strip

▪ The creation of a Palestinian state in the areas of Israeli withdrawal

▪ The removal of isolated settlements and transfer of the land to Palestinian control

▪ Other Israeli land exchanged for West Bank settlements remaining under Israeli control

▪ Palestinian control over East Jerusalem, including most of the Old City

▪ “Religious Sovereignty” over the Temple Mount, replacing Israeli sovereignty in effect since 1967

Arafat for his part simply rejected the offer. Around January 2001 Clinton met with Arafat again in the White House but there were no developments. Except that president Clinton was deeply offended and insulted that Arafat turned down the best offer for a peace settlement anyone would ever offer him. Indeed, inexplicably Arafat and his team said no again to the US-brokered Israeli proposals and they had no proposals of their own to offer.

Arafat’s illogical and counter productive position in response to Barak’s exceptional peace offer has to cause any reasonable person to stop short. The sides had been negotiating through thick and thin since 1993. The Palestinians had achievements to show for this work. But Arafat’s rejection of Barak’s end of conflict proposal shows his true colors. The fact is that for all those years Arafat was not negotiating in good faith at all. While he made everyone think he wanted a Palestinian state living in peace and coexistence with Israel, in fact he wanted something else. He was not prepared to accept Barak's offer because essentially he was not prepared to end the conflict at all. This is a case of Arafat perfidy of the worst kind. While on the surface and for many years Arafat appeared to be someone who wanted a peace settlement with Israel, when the surface was scratched in Camp David it was suddenly clear Arafat was reverting to the principles of the PLO, which called for Israel’s destruction. And of course it was only weeks between the end of Camp David and the beginning of the second intifada Arafat launched. He put his money where his mouth is.

The second intifada, which lasted four years and took the lives of over 1000 Israelis and wounded hundreds more, should have buried Oslo once and for all. But the Palestinian Authority did not die.

Abu Mazen negotiated with PM Sharon, PM Olmert and also PM Netanyahu.

But in around 2009 there was another illogical and counter productive Palestinian reversal. In fact, in June 2009 in his historic speech in Bar Ilan U. PM Netanyahu agreed for the first time in his career to establish a Palestinian state. His conditions were that it recognize Israel as the Jewish state and that it be demilitarized.

But it was as if the Palestinians were deaf dumb and blind to Netanyahu’s proposal. It was precisely at this time they started their initiative to achieve statehood membership status in the UN. Since then, their unilateral UN initiative is their Holy Grail. All doors are closed to bilateral negotiations with Israel. And there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

There has been a complete stalemate in political negotiations for three years. The stalemate has gone on so long one must ask if in fact the negotiations aren’t just dead in the water but completely dead, never to be revived.

Logically, that is exactly what happened. The Palestinians killed Oslo, and Israel must determine what is going to take its place.

The death of Oslo and the absence of any viable framework for bilateral negotiations with the Palestinians leads to the conclusion that the situation will revert to the status quo ante. Before 1993 and the start of Oslo and after 1967 when the occupation began. The one big change is Gaza. Hamas rules Gaza and the population there will never enter consideration for any possible political settlement. But the status quo ante for the West Bank means the 1.5 million Palestinians living there will simply continue to live under Israeli occupation. There will be no Palestinian self determination, no Palestinian state. Some talk about creating a Palestinian state in Jordan but that is not realistic.

Living with the status quo is what people and countries do who cannot find solutions to problems that won’t go away. The one important stress however is that in such a crisis, words are futile. Nothing anyone says on any level in Israeli society or in government can change the situation. This is also the case with respect to the world powers like the US, UN, Quartet and so on. Their proposals for Palestinian Israeli peace aren’t worth the paper they are printed on. And nothing they aim to accomplish in the Middle East arena has any hope.

The reason for this essentially is that the Palestinian side is deeply imbedded with prejudice and hatred for Jews and Israel. This prejudice and this hatred is what caused them to turn their backs on bilateral negotiations. This deeply imbedded hate psychology also causes their ears to be hermetically sealed to any proposal that relates to the future secure existence of Israel or of Israel as the Jewish state. Instead their lead desire is the doomsday refugee right of return. They do not want to live in peace and coexistence with Israel. They want Israel to Rest In Peace, or Israel Piece by Piece, and that is obviously not something Israel can take in stride.

The time has come to acknowledge that the situation has reached an insoluble deadlock, and the only rational approach now is to find a reasonable modus Vivendi. And not waste words.


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