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M.J. Rosenberg is Director of Policy Analysis for , a long time Capitol Hill staffer and former editor of AIPAC's Near East Report.
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By M.J. Rosenberg
August 19, 2004
The next few weeks may reveal whether or not Prime Minister Sharon will succeed in cobbling together a government that will implement his Gaza withdrawal plan. It is disconcerting to see how difficult he is finding it to put over a plan that virtually everyone in Israel supports. With the exception of the settlers lobby, some of the ultra-religious sects and the most extreme nationalists, Israelis want out of Gaza.
In fact, virtually since Gaza came under Israeli control in the 1967 war, most Israelis have wanted to give it back to someone. The Egyptians did not want it or it would have reverted to Egyptian control at the same time Sinai did, if not before. Now Israelis and Egyptians are in agreement that this tiny and crowded sliver of land, home to over a million Palestinians, should be administered by Palestinians as well.
Actually, the overwhelming majority of Israelis do not care very much who runs Gaza so long as terrorists do not use it as a staging area and 18-year old Israeli kids do not have to serve there -- defending settlers and manning checkpoints.
Sharon should not have a problem getting out. But he does. The political parties he needs to join him in a coalition stable enough to get the job done seem unable to focus on the big picture: getting out of the Gaza quagmire and kick-starting a diplomatic process that will lead to an accommodation with the Palestinians and a semblance of genuine security.
Instead, the parties are focusing on who gets which portfolio, which will or won't serve in a government with whom, and what inducements they can get from Sharon for joining in a unity government. Sharon's own Likud party includes a renegade element anxious to dump the Gaza withdrawal and Sharon as well.
At this rate, Israel will never get out of Gaza -- as for the West Bank, forget about it. The forces of the status quo seem to be so powerful in Israel today that even a Prime Minister with the hawkish credentials of an Ariel Sharon seems paralyzed.
That is why the United States needs to step in. The Bush administration wants Gaza withdrawal to be implemented. On April 14, President Bush said that full Gaza withdrawal coupled with partial withdrawal from the West Bank would "mark real progress toward realizing the vision I set forth in June 2002 of two states living side by side in peace and security, and make a real contribution toward peace."
And it is not only his "vision" that Bush is thinking about. General Tommy Franks, who retired from the military last summer after leading the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as the head of the U.S. Central Command, said this week that the Israel-Palestinian issue is "a major, major, major issue. And I believe it demands our focus." And Franks isn't alone. Virtually every military and civilian figure involved with the Iraq or Afghanistan effort, who has gone on record, has said that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a huge problem for the United States throughout the Middle East. U.S. actions toward resolving it will enhance America's security worldwide -- not to mention the security of Americans here at home.
For our own good, we need to ensure that the Gaza withdrawal happens. In recent weeks the administration has helped advance the process by encouraging Egypt to take an active role in Gaza, by insisting that Palestinian steps to fight terror be genuine, and by insisting that Israel's security barrier is built in a way that has minimal negative impact on the daily lives of Palestinians. It needs to deepen its involvement before Gaza withdrawal becomes the latest lost opportunity.
Of course, the conventional wisdom argues against serious engagement with the Middle East during election season. But the conventional wisdom is wrong.
Earlier this month the Union for Reform Judaism, which represents 1.5 million members, passed a resolution urging the administration to support the Gaza plan and push the peace process. Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, sent a copy of the resolution to Secretary of State Colin Powell with a letter informing Powell that the Reform movement (the largest of the four major Jewish denominations) "urges the American government to stay active in the peace process...."
It noted that the movement's '"new resolution strongly supports Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan of unilateral military withdrawal and the removal of all Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip as well as from parts of the West Bank."
The movement also called on Congress to ensure that its resolutions relating to the Middle East "recognize the need for [Gaza] withdrawal to be directly linked to a return to the negotiating table" and urged it to "address the troubling humanitarian conditions of the Palestinians."
The view expressed by the Reform movement is one that most American Jews share. That is why helping Israel out of Gaza and getting Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table is not only right, it is politically smart. American Jews have consistently supported U.S. leadership in the Middle East and will welcome administration efforts. So will Arab-Americans (who, like Jews are well-represented in the so-called swing states).
President Bush and Senator Kerry have nothing to lose and much to gain by making clear that they understand that U.S. leadership in advancing the diplomatic process is the best policy for America -- and for Israelis and Palestinians as well. After all, why can't good policy be good politics too?
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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