By Matan BenYishay

The best way to make sure that negotiations fail is to decide that the people across the table are the ones that must give in to make them succeed. Therefore, I am disappointed and disheartened by the prospects for peace in Israel and Palestine if we are to follow the advice of either the wespeak written by Shireen Tawil and Karen Weingarten, or those written by David Henschke. The Palestinian and Israeli leaderships have made terrible choices regarding negotiations, and these wespeaks are no help at all. Whether or not we believe we are right in demanding unilateral concessions from the other side, without cooperation the negotiations will not succeed.

Successful negotiations leave no room for anything but negotiations. They certainly leave no room for casting blame. Publicly condemning people with whom you wish to make peace is always counter-productive. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon continues to call Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat a "liar" and a "murderer." Arafat referred to the State of Israel as "fascist" shortly before he and then-Prime Minister Barak were scheduled to meet several weeks before the Israeli elections. Barak frequently pulled his negotiators out of talks in response to attacks by some Palestinians. Can anyone claim that these actions increased the negotiations’ chances of success? 

The past months have abounded with attempts by both Palestinians and Israelis to reach their goals through means other than peaceful negotiations. Many Palestinians have been
willing to fight and die for their dream of a free Palestine. On the other hand, the Israeli army has taken to assassinating individuals they consider to be serious threats to Israel. Also,
Sharon has announced that he will not reconvene peace talks until after the violence has stopped. The human cost of any of these courses of action is clearly too high. If we wish to
distance ourselves from terrorists and extremists on both sides – those who desire death for their enemies rather than peace – we must reject any road but negotiation.

It is not too late for this road. On the Israeli side, the nation rejected Barak more than they rejected peace talks. Shimon Peres, a dovish statesman and former Prime Minister, matched
Sharon’s popularity in the polls. Clearly, it was Barak’s careless and obviously politicized way of offering concessions, giving up more and more on each successive occasion, that infuriated Israelis. In addition, Barak made offers by which he had no intention to abide just so he could blame Arafat for rejecting them. Israelis sometimes express the belief that negotiations are doomed because Barak offered the Palestinians more than any prime minister in the past and they were still not satisfied. On the Palestinian side, however, the problem
was in large part one of distrust, as much as a lack of satisfaction with the concessions.

Much of the failing of the Palestinian and Israeli leaders has been that they have tried to mix politics with reconciliation. Arafat has not had the courage to stand at the forefront of his people in leading them to peace, while being undemocratic and unrepresentative of his people as well. Barak has attempted to negotiate, while at the same time expressing his nation’s   outrage at acts of violence committed by some Palestinians; he has failed on both counts. Sharon, on the other hand, will not be ambiguous. Unfortunately, he will be clear in exactly the way the region does not need: he will make negotiating secondary while trying to put a total lock on Palestinian violence (a thoroughly impossible task).

The recent wespeaks from both sides insisted that the responsibility for making peace rests on the other. "While the Palestinian Authority must compromise if a peace agreement is to be reached, it is in the Israeli government’s hands to make concessions," claim Tawil and Weingarten. "The ball is in the Palestinian court," retorts Henschke. I must confess that I am not particularly interested in the question of which side has the moral obligation to make peace. I am only interested in how peace can be made. The only way to peace is through negotiations, and negotiations will only stand a chance if both sides commit fully and honestly to them. Any other attitude dooms negotiations before they even begin. 

We cannot afford to give in to the temptation of blaming the other side. It will undermine any efforts to reconcile the division, and the violence cannot go on.

 
BenYishay is a member of the class of 2004.