Peace can be win-win or lose-lose

By J. Zel Lurie

DELRAY BEACH, Florida — At the current events session in my retirement home a neighbor said: “Obama did something amazing. He brought Arab Turkey and Jewish Israel together in peace. Simply amazing. Why can’t he repeat it between Israel and the Palestinians.”

Confusing Turks with Arabs is a common error. The Turks are Muslims but they are not Arabs.. The Turks ruled over the Arabs for centuries until they lost their Arab empire to the British and French in World War I.

The Turks and the Israelis had close business and military relations. Thousands of Israelis enjoyed cheap vacations at resorts on the Turkish coast. The Israeli and Turkish navies cooperated on the sea. The Turkish army and the IDF enjoyed joint games under the auspices of the United States Sixth Fleet.

Until Israeli commandos boarded a Turkish ship that was trying to break the blockade of Gaza and killed nine passengers.

That happened almost three years ago. Everyone was was sorry. Israeli vacationers went elsewhere. Turkish resorts suffered. The growing trade was curtailed, but only slightly.

The IDF carefully prepared an apology. It did not apologize for raiding the ship as the New York Times reported wrongly. The IDF regretted “operational errors,” which resulted in nine deaths, and they offered compensation to the families.

The young commandos were met with a barrage of cans, bottles and baseball bats and they responded, as they were taught, with bullets. This is what an Israeli soldier does when an Arab youth throws a stone at him. But the Turks are not Arabs. This was an “operational error.”

Everyone favored the apology except Avigdor Lieberman. As foreign minister, he sat on the apology for two years. He claimed the Israeli soldier never apologizes for his actions.

That claim is true when applied to the Israeli Army on the West Bank. The Israeli Human Rights organization B’Tselem has published a long list of Army actions in the West Bank and Gaza that merit apologies.

Lieberman has allegedly committed illegal and fraudulent acts in his native Moldava and Israel. Recently he joined the ranks of Israeli officials who were indicted and forced to resign their posts.

Before he resigned, Lieberman secured the consent of Prime Minister Netanyahu to add the foreign office to his portfolio. Lieberman has announced that he expects to be acquitted and he will resume his post as minister of foreign affairs, the worst foreign minister in Israel’s history.

President Obama took advantage of Lieberman’s absence to bring together the prime ministers of Turkey and Israel, who had spent two years and ten months trading insults.

International phone lines were brought to a trailer at Ben-Gurion airport. Before Obama flew off on Air Force One he talked to the head of the Turkish government. Then he handed the phone to Bibi, and the two chiefs made shalom.

They agreed to settle the amount of compensation to the families quickly. Israel has offered $100,000 to each family. Turkey has asked for a million dollars. They will probably split the difference.

This was a win-win peace. Both Turkey and Israel benefited immensely. Neither side gave up anything important.

Peace between Israel and Palestine will be exactly the opposite. It will be lose-lose.

Both sides know that they will have to give up long-held slogans. Both sides approach peace negotiations warily with suspicion so there has been little progress towards peace.

Israel government officials proclaim “we will make historic compromises,” but they never talk specifics.

In his recent speech in Jerusalem, President Obama made three points.

1. Peace is necessary. Only a Palestine state can assure Israel’s security. Only a free and independent Palestine will allow Israelis to live without fear.

2. Peace is just. Forget it.

What is just for rhe Israeli settlers will not be just for the Palestinians who have seen their land being whittled away. Before 1948 the Jewish National Home consisted of roughly 10 percent of Palestine.

In 1947 the United Nationa had voted to set up two states, one Arab and one Jewish each with half the country. The Arabs resisted. They tried to drive the  Jews into the sea. They lost and in 1949 they settled for 22 percent of the land under Jordan and Egyptiian sovereignty. In 1967 the Jordanians and Egyptians were driven out.

A few years later Jewish settlers moved in for ideological reasons. They were followed by thousands of settlers who were just looking for a decent place to live at a price they could afford. What will be just to the Palestinians will not be just to them and vice versa.

3. Peace is possible, said Obama to loud cheers and sustained applause.

Two states for two peoples is the only solution, said Obama but he did not specify what the parties will have to give up. That they will have to negotiate.

The conclusion will be lose-lose. It will not happen in my lifetime but I two peoples in two states.   I’ll continue to support two states for my children.

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Lurie, a freelance writer based in Delray Beach, Florida, may be contacted via jzel.lurie@sdjewishworld.com