Yes: It's A Step Toward Peace

By Sol Schindler

Of course the Israeli plan is feasible. Any plan is if the participants do their best to make it work. No plan can work if the participants are half-hearted. Much depends on one's expectations.

The Israeli plan has been criticized because it is insufficiently detailed; there are many grey areas that are unaddressed. Although I have no inside information and know no more than what is printed in the newspapers, let me speak to some of the concerns I've heard expressed.

"Nothing has been said of Jerusalem." Quite right. The plan is for the occupied territories. Jerusalem has been unified, it is one city, now part of Israel, and governed as such. To talk of a new partition is a waste of breath. This is one subject the Israelis will not budge on, although questions of access to religious shrines and other religious matters will always be negotiable.

"What about Israeli occupation forces? Will they remain while elections take place, or will they be replaced by UN or other neutral troops? If they remain, how can one expect a fair election? If a candidate comes out and says he is for the PLO, won't he be subject to arrest?"

The Israeli response, I imagine, is that you're putting the cart before the horse. From the Israeli pont of view the purpose of the election would be to choose a team to negotiate conditions for the removal of Israeli governing officials and troops. Troops leave after negotiations, not before them. As for the fairness of the elections, Israel can rightly say it is the only country in the area with a history of regular, free and open elections. It has also expressed its willingness to host outside observers from any quarter. Further, it is an easily verifiable fact that there are more American foreign correspondents per square foot on Israeli soil than anywhere else on this planet, with the possible exception of the bar at the National Press Club. If elections were held, these numbers would be further augmented. As for possibilities of arrest, this to me seems a bit of a red herring. In Israel the Communist Party regularly fields people who say pretty much what the PLO is saying, and none has yet been arrested.

The sooner peace arrives—and the Israeli proposal for elections is one good means to that end—the sooner Palestinians in the occupied territories can climb out of the permanent underclass role to which the world seems to have assigned them.

No, it is not the "fairness" of the elections that disturbs some people. Instead it is both the process and the outcome that are disturbing. The process because the Israelis will have an active role, and the outcome because for there to be an outcome some compromise will have to be agreed to. For peace to be reached, the Israelis will have to be dealt with and their concerns met at least partially.

The sooner elections are held and negotiations commence, the better for the entire area. Much has been written about the damage to the Israeli economy caused by the intifada. But those who suffer the most are the actual residents of the occupied territories. These are the people who are being deprived of their livelihood and whose children are deprived of their schooling. The sooner peace arrives—and the Israeli proposal for elections is one good means to that end—the sooner they can climb out of the permanent underclass role to which the world seems to have assigned them.

Sol Schindler is a retired foreign service office who writes and lectures on international affairs.