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PARTISAN REVIEW
black when they think about the upcomin g elec ti ons. There is no
ga insay ing the fact tha t the
intifada
has dri ve n th e J orda ni a n option
supported by Shimon Peres and the "ri ght wing- of the left"
unde rground-pe rhaps for good . It is no t a t a ll clear tha t a peace
process can circumvent the P .L.O . At the same time, it remains
unclear whe ther the P .L.O . is capable of pa rti cipa tin g in a peace
process .
Pales tini a ns have won a maj or tac ti cal victo ry, bu t they appear
incapable of capi tali zin g on it a nd tra nsformin g it into a st ra tegic
diploma ti c breakthrou gh . Pales tini a ns livin g in the occupi ed ter–
ritori es have put to res t the myth of their own pass ivity -we used to
wonde r wha t would ha ppen to the much-deba ted J ewi sh se ttl ements
in the W es t Ba nk if Palestinian Arabs would stop building them - as
well as the myth of having to rely on forces out side the a reas, that is,
on the P. L. O. They have had a ra the r more difficult time letting go
of the myth tha t if they rise up Israe l would be fo rced ou t of the ter–
ritori es by the powe r of inte rna ti ona l public opinion , tha t is, without
major politica l concessions.
Essenti all y, the Palest ini a n tac ti c could be termed "land-for–
nothing ." Proposa ls by P.L.O . cha irma n Yass ir Ara fa t a nd others,
most recentl y a nd regre tt abl y by the Itali a n sociali st leader (and
e rstwhile fri end of La bor leade r Shimon Pe res) Bettino C rax i, that
the United Na tions reli eve Israel of the responsibility o f administer–
in g the te rritori es, a re not a version o f "la nd for peace." (The Itali an
proposa l wa s that the UN award the EEC a manda te or trusteeship
pending the establishment of an independent Palestinian sta te.)
If
Israe l surrende rs the te rritories outside the contex t of peace negoti a–
ti ons, wha t does it have left to offe r the Arab side in
n ego ti ations ~
The onl y inte rn a ti ona ll y agreed upon rec ipe for a n Arab-Israel
peace calls for the trading of la nd (not all the la nds, mind you , but
"la nd") for peace . The ri ots have been success ful from the Pales tinian
po int o f vi ew in refocusing the ques tion onto the occupa tion itself, as
a finite universe without roots in hi sto ry, a nd away from the even–
ha nded land-for-peace formul a (evenha nded since it pos its that both
sides have somethin g the other legitima tel y seeks) a nd from the
Palestinian refu sal to accept as legitimate a J ewi sh na tional sta te in
an y pa rt of Palestine . This is meant to - a nd does - encourage post–
co loni al Western guilt.
There also has been an a ttempt to co-opt - no, ki dna p - the
moral capital J ews derive from the Holocaust. The ill-fa ted voyage
of the Palestinian "Exodus" - which was supposed to sa il with a deck-
f
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