Can They Stop Likud?

By Pat McDonnell Twair

Mustering forces to ward off a Likud victory in Israel's November elections, Ret. Gen. Mattityahu Peled, a Progressive List for Peace (PLP) Knesset member, and Badr Unis, PLP executive board member, have been stumping US audiences to support their independent Arab-Jewish peace party.

Founded just months before the 1984 Israeli elections, the PLP holds two seats in the 84-member Knesset, one by Peled and the other by Palestinian Mohammed Miari.

Addressing an audience of Los Angeles Jewish and Arab peace leaders and Democratic Party activists in the home of Dr. and Mrs. Sabri El Farra recently, Peled and Unis urged those assembled to urge their Arab and progressive Jewish relatives in Israel to vote for the PLP.

"If the PLP can grow to three or four Knesset seats in the next election, then we can be a legitimate bloc," explained Unis, who is awaiting trial in Israel with six other Jewish and Arab PLP board members for advocating peace talks with the PLO.

Aware of a bill to ban any party that does not recognize Israel as a state of the Jewish people, the founders of the PLP decided not to be a solely Arab party and joined forces with Peled, regarded as the father of the Israeli peace movement and the foremost Israeli advocate of independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Drawing a parallel between the intifadah and the PLP, Unis stated: "There have been peace parties in Israel for the past 40 years, but they've only wept. There have been tears, but no action. It's time we took the political initiative into our own hands. After 40 years of wars in which the Palestinians always were on the losing end, we've decided to deal with the problem in our own way and not rely on any Arab state."

What are the PLP's hopes in the forthcoming election?

"The polls show no clear outcome," Peled replied. "The shift to the right or left isn't expected to be more than 2 or 3 percent, that's why the participation of the smaller parties is so crucial. If (Kach leader Rabbi Meir) Kahane gains more seats, he will demand a heavy price for his participation. "Hopefully, if Labor gets the edge, it will ask the leftist parties for help. The question is, what can we realistically expect Labor to accept.

"We should insist on one condition, or we're out of business: namely, for Israel to agree to an international peace conference participated in by all concerned parties, including the PLO and the five members of the UN Security Council. This would be a de facto recognition of the PLO if it were to take part in the peace conference."

An essential element, he pointed out, is to have the UN Security Council act as a guarantor of peace to establish confidence on all sides. Such an agreement might be two or three years in the making, and would require the unequivocal support of the five member states of the Security Council.

"Some have reasoned the US is opposed to an international conference because it doesn't want to dictate to Israel," Peled said. "I beg to differ."

Harping back to the first experiment with the convening of an international conference on the Middle East in 1974, when the United States an the Soviet Union met in Geneva, Peled said Egypt and Jordan came to the table, and Syria was expected to.

"There was no problem until (Secretary of State Henry) Kissinger said there could be no Soviet participation. Now, 14 years later, it is clear the two superpowers must cooperate, but the US continues to insist on managing the affairs of the Middle East without Soviet participation.

"The conflict can only be solved by an international conference or there will be more wars," he continued. "If the US agrees to a conference, the secretary general of the UN will issue invitations to all interested parties and it's my hunch that Israel will not remain outside such a conference. Israelis often act crazy, but I believe there's a limit to their crazy behavior."

Peled foresees all parties left of Labor joining the PLP in urging Labor to agree to a peace conference.

"The one single burning issue is such a conference," Peled stated. "Once convened, the violence will stop. A conference couldn't go on while people are killed in the streets."

Discussing Israeli security concerns in light of a future Palestinian state being set up in the West Bank and Gaza, Peled notes the other side of the issue. "If I were a Palestinian, I would want assurances against Israeli aggression. Clearly, security would be uppermost in negotiations. A security annex or chapter would spell out in detail the demands of each side. More important considerations are how the two states will solve regional problems dealing with water and ports."

After retiring as a general in the Israeli Defense Forces in 1968, Peled earned a Ph.D. and teaches Arabic language and literature at Tel Aviv University. The Haifa-born peace proponent insists he hasn't moved to the left so much as Israel has moved to the right in its stance for territories, not peace. Since 1967, he has advocated a Palestinian state as a route to peace.

Stating that the intifadah is a justified protest against an overlong and cruel occupation, Peled said Israel must realize it must come to terms with the Palestinians.

"The intifadah is not a war against the state of Israel. It is Israel that sent an army to suppress a popular uprising," he said. "it has created a situation in which troops are shooting bullets at unarmed civilian protesters. Such a war can turn into a full-fledged war if Arab states decide to no longer stand by and watch the casualties mount."

Stressing his insistence that Israel withdraw its forces behind the 1967 borders, Peled said: "When I say withdraw, I mean from East Jerusalem as well—its annexation by Israel is illegitimate and meaningless because today Jerusalem is as divided as before. The only Jews entering East Jerusalem are in the army."

Official estimates put the economic loss to Israeli commerce at $1 billion in the first seven months of the intifadah, this will hit $2 billion if the uprising continues for many more months.

Financial contributions to the PLP can be mailed to Gen. Matti Peled, Progressive List for Peace, P.O. Box 31100, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Pat McDonnell Twair is a California-based free-lance writer on Middle East affairs.