After Bin Laden: Israel & Middle East Peace

Carlyn Meyer

the death of Bin Laden is not the big story in the Middle East. The Arab uprisings and stalled peace negotiations are.

Parallel to the Arab countries whose youths are fighting for their future against autocrats long supported by the US, a new generation of Palestinians who grew up under occupation is ready and anxious to claim theirs. The occupation is almost 50 years old, and the Palestinians’ disappointment with Obama for failure to follow through on his Cairo speech is palpable.

In the past Israeli officials complained that Yassir Arafat was not a serious partner in peace; today the Palestinians are the ones who feel they have no partner. Netanyahu won’t talk. The Administration refuses to break the deadlocked talks with an American-sponsored initiative, although such action is seen in the region as the sole alternative to a Palestinian petition for statehood at this September’s General Assembly.

If Israel does not feel secure enough to bargain with the Palestinians from its overwhelming, asymmetrical position of strength now, under what conditions would it take the risks? With a military superior to any Arab country as well as to Iran, with the ability to create computer virus that can cause havoc in the computer systems of Iranian nuclear reactors, a clandestine nuclear arsenal and strong economy; having sealed off Gaza and walled-off the West Bank; with over $3 billion in US assistance every year, not to mention the US veto of any Security Council resolution that criticizes it, Israel is far more secure today that it has ever been in its history.

And the reforms Palestine Authority President Abbas and PM Salam Fayyad have instituted in the last two years certainly qualify them as partners in peace.

The most effective (if not only) way the US can show solidarity with the Arab democratic movements and build viable relations within the Arab world is to abandon the illusion that the conflict an be resolved through bilateral negotiation alone without the world community, particularly the US, actively proposing solutions and incentives for peace. If the Administration remains passive on the Israeli/Palestinian issue, I fear its post-Bin Laden attempts to reach out to the region will fall on deaf ears.