The Middle East Needs International Observers Now
Israelis and Palestinians need a buffer to make peace
By Gershon Baskin
December 11, 2001
JERUSALEM –- Israel doesn’t trust Arafat and doesn’t believe that Arafat has made the decision to fight terrorism. Arafat no longer has any words capable of convincing Israel to believe his statements that he wants peace. Israel demands actions not statements.
Israel has submitted to Arafat through the Americans a list of names of individuals that it demands be arrested and placed in prisons without revolving doors. It now seems that Arafat has begun arresting those people, but how can Israel verify that they are actually in custody? And in light of past experience, how can Israel believe that they will stay behind bars?
Arafat has explained to the world that he suspects that Israel wants him to arrest all of those “most wanted people” so that once they are all rounded up, Israel can bomb the prisons and thereby kill them all in one shot. Obviously, Arafat cannot lend his hand to this and therefore, according to his explanations, cannot implement the arrests according to the demands and the expectations of Israel and of the Americans.
It seems the best solution to meet the needs and demands of both sides – of Israel to verify the arrest and imprisonment of the wanted men, and of Arafat to guarantee that Israel will not bomb the prisons -- is an agreement by both sides to bring American, Canadian and EU observers to the territories.
To be sure, this will be problematic. Israel fears the internationalization of the conflict. Israel also claims that international observers, serving as a buffer between the two sides, won’t be able to prevent the terrorists from hitting Israel, but they will be able to prevent Israel from responding to those attack, thereby limiting Israel’s ability to fight terrorism. While these concerns are understandable, there is also an upside to the presence of international observers in the territories.
Every force of observers or peacekeepers in the world functions under a specific mandate. In this case, the mandate should be the verification of arrests, trial and imprisonment of suspects by the Palestinian Authority. The placement of the observers could be limited to the prisons of the Palestinian Authority. The observers would keep a daily record of names of those in the prisons. Because of the physical placement of the observers in the prisons, Arafat will receive guarantees that Israel will not bomb the prisons.
It is possible to assure that the international observers will not be military personnel, will not carry arms and will not have any functions or responsibilities outside of the prisons. In this way, Israel can be assured they will not serve as a shield in front of suspected terrorists, preventing Israel from waging its war against terrorism.
Both sides benefit from this arrangement. Israel gets verification of the arrests, trial and imprisonment of suspected terrorists. Arafat gets guarantees against Israeli bombings of Palestinian prisons. Both sides gain significant international encouragement to implement a ceasefire. Perhaps this model of American, Canadian and EU observers can also serve both sides in guaranteeing the implementation of future agreements and arrangements between them.
By Gershon Baskin is an Israeli peace activist living in Jerusalem.
Copyright 2001, Global Beat Syndicate, 418 Lafayette Street, Suite 554, New York, NY 10003 http://www.nyu.edu/globalbeat/syndicate.