“Israeli novelist
David Grossman is working with Algerian writer Boualem Sansal to launch a
writers’ drive for world peace at the World Forum For Democracy in Strasbourg
this week.
Their initiative is reportedly supported by some of the
most respected names in literature including Claudio Magris, Antonio Lobo
Antunes and Liao Yiwu.The Forum brings together reformers and global leaders to
identify democratic responses to the economic, social and political challenges
which affect societies today.
The writers – in their quest to end conflict and bring
peace to the world – have naturally included the resolution of the “Israel –
Palestine conflict” within their purview.
However the views they express are indeed surprising –
parroting Arab propaganda rather than relying on careful research – the
indispensable tool normally used by writers of such distinction and undoubted
repute.They begin by stating :
Israel maintains the Palestinians under occupation for
more than 45 years, and this inhuman and immoral situation must stop.
All the Palestinian Arabs residing in Gaza are under the
total administrative and security control of a Hamas dominated Government
following Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.
Our well intended authors are also apparently unaware
that pursuant to arrangements mutually negotiated between Israel and the
Palestinian Authority (PA) under the 1993 Oslo Accords – 55% of the Palestinian
Arabs residing in the West Bank are under the total administative and security
control of the PA Government – whilst another 41% are under the total
administrative control of the PA Government and joint security control of the
PA and Israel.
Elections in the West Bank and Gaza were last held in
2006. Since then Hamas and the PA have been at each other’s jugulars. President
Abbas’s use by date as PA president expired in 2009. Democracy is nowhere to be
seen.
Suggesting Israel’s occupation is “inhuman and immoral”
in the light of these facts is pure fiction The statement continues:
Both sides are putting unrealistic conditions to resume
negotiations …
Are they serious? Israel has been offering to return to
negotiations with the PA without any preconditions. It is the PA that is
refusing to negotiate unless Israel stops building in the West Bank.
Grossman and Sansal continue:
It is urgent that the international community intervenes
firmly to bring the Iranian nuclear programme under control and steadily
commits to the resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict, pushing the parties
to immediately establish a true direct dialogue, leading as soon as possible to
the creation of a Palestinian state next to the State of Israel, both with
secure borders, on the basis of painful compromises for both parts though
necessary for peace, as the abandonment of settlements or their exchange
against land, the renouncement to the right of return of the 1948 refugees, the
sharing of Jerusalem. This is still – but maybe not for long – a possible
solution and there are men and women on both sides capable of achieving it. Let
us help them do so.
Our well-meaning authors seem to be ignorant of the fact
that Israel in 2001 and 2008 offered to cede its claims to more than 90% of the
West Bank and agreed to a part of Jerusalem becoming the capitol of a
Palestinian Arab State – but such offers were rejected. Even land swaps were
broached in the latter offer. They seem oblivious to the fact that no one in
the PA or Hamas has the power to renounce any right of return of the 1948
refugees and expect to be alive the next day.
They also seem to overlook that what the Palestinian
Arabs demand today could have been theirs – plus more – at any time between
1948-1967 with the single stroke of an Arab League pen – after all the Jews
living there had been driven out.Why the need for a state now when one was not
demanded during those 19 years – and indeed rejected in 1937 when recommended
by the Peel Commission or in 1947 when proposed by the United Nations?
Who are the men and women on both sides that are capable
of doing what has not been able to be achieved for the last 19 years in trying
to create a new Arab State between Jordan and Israel for the first time ever in
recorded history? Naming them would have been great – even if it embarrassed
those highly experienced negotiators from Israel the PA, and the Quartet – the
United Nations, the European Union, Russia and America – who have tired
endlessly for the last eight years to resolve the conflict but have got
absolutely nowhere. Grossman and Sansal conclude:
Writers have their part in this fight and we hereby express
our determination to take it firmly and objectively. We urge all writers in the
world to join us. Together, we can influence decision makers and public opinion
and thereby also the course of events, ensuring that the values of peace are
strengthened throughout the world. Our methods in this fight are literature,
debate and vigilance. Maybe it is not much, but it is our way of maintaining
our dignity in a world of violence and cynism.
They have been less than objective and their ability to
influence decision makers and public opinion with their planned initiative is
fanciful.
Samir El-youssef – a Palestinian writer – has succinctly
summed up the Grossman/Sansal proposal:
Rather than maintaining hope for peace, I see here
nothing but a further attempt to renew the old failed approach to deal with the
Arabic and Islamic world.
The old failed approach has certainly been an unmitigated
disaster.
It is indeed time for a new approach in dealing with the
Arabic and Islamic world in trying to resolve the 130 years old Arab – Jewish
conflict.
Might I suggest negotiations between Israel, Egypt and
Jordan to allocate sovereignty in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem – to
be held under the chairmanship of the Secretary General of the United Nations
with the approval of the Quartet, the Arab League and the Organization for
Islamic Co- Operation.
Writers of the world – are you prepared to sign up to
such an initiative?
With your active support this proposal could become a
best seller in a very short space of time. It is not fiction. It is based on
history, geography, demography and international law – unlike the fairy tales
that form the basis for the “two-state” solution.
Maintaining your dignity in a world of violence and
cynicism will certainly be heightened by supporting this proposal. If you
hesitate to get involved – exercise your undoubted writing skills to tell me
why.
But please this time round – facts not fiction.
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