“Peace in our time” is what Neville Chamberlain promised when he returned from creating and signing the roadmap to peace with Germany in 1938, as he waved a piece of paper proudly in the air. Now, as we all know, that plan didn’t work out too well. In fact, World War II ensued.
Why did this happen? Because all the roadmap to peace was to Adolf Hitler was a piece of paper and without moving towards peaceful relations, that piece of paper was meaningless. Chamberlain’s quote may seem ironically humorous to us now that we know what followed, but unfortunately, 11 million lives and seven years later, the whole world realized exactly how wrong Chamberlain was.
As a liberal democrat and Israel supporter, two things that don’t usually go together around here, allow me to begin by acknowledging my disagreement with the liberal movement in the United States. As Dr. King stated so eloquently in the 1960s while equating anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism, “when people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews.” The liberal movement today as a whole has an air of anti-Semitism. After all, no one political group is perfect, that would be too easy.
Over the past few years, the Middle East has been a hot debate topic as well as a continuing hotbed for terrorist activity. There is distrust on both sides with an attack-and-retaliate pattern that has the potential to go on forever. History has taught them that leaders are two-faced and not to be trusted. Yasser Arafat, the former leader of the Palestinian Authority up until his death this past year, was also known for telling the world one thing and his followers another.
The peace process, which until now could have been called the trail of broken promises between the Israelis and Palestinians, has just taken a momentous leap forward, but not for the reasons one would think. Recently, Israel has kept its promise to turn over control of cities in the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority with the reduction of terrorist attacks. The important part of this move is not that the PA will now have control over some land.
Now let me explain: for the first time, arguably, since the peace process began, both sides of the table have kept their promises. The new leadership of the Palestinian Authority, led by Mahmoud Abbas, has done its part in decreasing the amount of terrorist activities. At this point, the Israelis led by Ariel Sharon can keep their promise by giving land for peace, something that has historically been a solution for Israelis in their inhospitable neighborhood surrounded by unfriendly countries.
This seems like such a simple idea, something that a child might learn in kindergarten. Do not make promises you aren’t going to keep. It just isn’t nice. Maybe what these leaders need is some training in sincerity. And although that’s not going to happen, these lies cannot continue and hopefully with this new leadership, the distrust can simmer down. In this part of the world, when the promise-makers don’t keep their promises, innocent people wind up dead.
These new developments in the peace process have brought about some differing reactions. Israeli citizens in the West Bank do not feel that this is a viable solution to end the violence in the area. There will continue to be protests and opposition to this move, which is welcomed by the government, as Israel is a democratic country.
Here in Madison, members of Madison Public Affairs Committee (MadPAC), a local offshoot of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), are encouraged to form their own opinions on the situation. Aaron Cohn, a member of MadPAC, expressed a somewhat different view than the protestors in the West Bank.
Cohn feels “that Israel’s security can only come through Palestinian prosperity,” and “with the new Palestinian leadership and the bold moves of Israel’s government,” he is hopeful for a more peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians. I tend to agree with him.
This year is shaping up to be a productive one for Israel and her neighbors, and hopefully our optimism will come to fruition. In this particular issue, tempers tend to run high and patience for argument runs low, but if these two groups continue to keep their promises, peace just may be in their future.
Julie Isen ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in political science.