Stalling Tactics

There is yet another indication that Israel’s political establishment lacks the genuine intentions to seek and establish the credibility necessary for lasting peace with the Palestinians. It is not that it requires the services of a fortune teller for any ardent watcher of the Palestinian-Israeli problem to discern that Israel wants anything less than a resolution that hinges completely on its own terms, but the report today that Prime Minister Olmert’s government has made back channel overtures to negotiate with Syria with the aim of returning the Golan Heights is capable of creating the impression that there’s a lack of genuine desire for peace particularly because the same report disclosed that Israel’s overtures is aimed at isolating Iran.

That mindset which compels those who hold it in the Israeli political establishment and their international supporters to stop at nothing in the pursuit of whatever frustrates the possibility of solving the crisis falls within the realm of stalling tactics. The assassination of Yshak Rabin under a highly poisoned political atmosphere which was generated and stoked quiet openly by opponents of the Oslo Accords that he initialed with the late Yassir Arafat is yet another indication of the existence of the said mindset. Seeking and making peace with Syria with the aim of curbing Iran’s growing influence in the region will be the latest one. But the question that craves a serious consideration is: Is there really an alternative to a lasting resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli crisis?

The harsh and truthful answer to that question is indeed, no! So far, nothing indicates that there will come a time when the prevalent circumstances in the Middle East would respond to the desires of the holders of this mindset. There is no denying that given America’s unflinching support, Israel will continue to enjoy the upper hand in the balance of military power in the region. But Israel’s military power has proven insufficient in curbing Palestinian resistance and all the destructive violence that characterize the use of military power to quash that resistance. Meanwhile, both sides have continued to bleed in every sense of the word. Nothing can be better than a lasting solution in this case. So far, the will for that is lacking in Israel’s political establishment and in the ranks of its supporters. The Palestinians do deserve their own share of the blame here, but one is convinced that Israel is the more powerful adversary in the conflict. However, that in and by itself places a good measure of the burden to credibly set the stage for genuine peace on Israel and its international supporters. Stalling tactics will not get even the most powerful party in this kind of protracted conflict far enough.