ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS
PALESTINIAN TACTICS, PALESTINIAN
GOALS
The unfolding tragedy in the Middle East - in which the
Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the
Israeli reaction to it are only the latest bloody chapters - is prolonged
by the widespread assumption that a conference, or "negotiations,"
will bring about a solution. Instead, misunderstanding and abuses
have characterized the discussions, perceptions, and reactions.
A fault line runs between emotional perceptions and political
analysis. The underlying brutality of the situation seems to close off
most options other than protracted struggle, a fight
to
the finish. As
Meron Benvenisti remarked, the Israeli right has a sharper, more
penetrating insight into the depth of the hostility Palestinians hold
against Israel , while the left has the required political solutions. This
has confused Israelis, but Americans (including many American
Jews) have come completely unglued. Woody Allen, whose previous
venture in op-ed writing has been to oppose colorization of black and
white films, attacked the Israeli policy as brutal. Abe Rosenthal
rushed into the breach, arguing that Israel's defense minister, Yitzhak
Rabin, should resign .
For these observers, the problem had become the alleged Israeli
brutality. But the problem, insofar as it was with the Israeli leader–
ship, was with the hardline Likud policy which has helped prevent
diplomatic movement - with an assist from the cowardice of Arap
moderates and the strength of Arab extremism - and not with
Rabin's clumsy and heavyhanded approach to putting down the
riots. Rabin, after all, supports Shimon Peres's call for an interna–
tional peace conference, the Shultz initiative, for anything that will
help get the peace process off the ground. (I am not convinced by
arguments, like the one made by Leon Wiesel tier in
The New
Republic,
that the Israeli reaction itself will help prevent a politics of
peace.
In
the Middle East, as elsewhere, one must strike a balance
between diplomatic flexibility and military strength. And beyond
Shamir and Likud, there remains the problem of Palestinian ex–
tremism toward Israel.)
So many myths have been exploded by the uprising- the
in–
tifada,
as they call it - that most of us have been left with images
whose relation to events have become historical, museum pieces
