Dr. Aaron Lerner is co-founder of IMRA, Independent Media Review and Analysis, an Israel-based news organization which provides an extensive digest of media, polls and significant interviews and events relating to the Israeli-Arab conflict. imra@netvision.net.il
The death of faith in the likely terms for peace
By Dr. Aaron Lerner
November 10, 2006
Unfortunately, it appears that the Olmert Administration may already be starting to set in motion another Israeli round of "act first, think - if at all - later" initiatives with ideas to further water down requirements for Palestinian compliance while offering additional unilateral Israeli concessions.
The Rabin Administration did it with Oslo. Ehud Barak tried to pull it off in snap final status talks. Ariel Sharon not only leaped ahead on the concept of a sovereign Palestinian state (the Bush Administration only embraced it only after Sharon repeatedly explicitly accepted the idea in public remarks) but also plunged forward with a novel "land for nothing"
(some wondered if more accurately "land for no indictment") rather than "land for peace" retreat from Gaza.
"Act first - think - if at all - later" was always a reckless policy. But at least it could be at least explained in the past by the two fundamental assumptions that have served retreat supporters for over a decade as a "safety net":
The first assumption was that withdrawal to the '67 lines would bring peace. Period. This assumption was held as nothing less than an article of faith.
That's "faith" in a religious sense.
And just as a religious Jew may not devote much intellectual effort considering if in fact God transmitted the Torah to Moses, withdrawal supporters didn't see the need to actually think through the veracity of the assertion that withdrawal to the '67 lines would bring peace.
A second assumption of retreat supporters was that the IDF would always prevail regardless of the opening conditions.
This second assumption was particularly important for the transition period of interim withdrawals -- when Israel's remaining presence beyond the '67 lines would preclude the utopian peace that would be assured by complete withdrawal.
Before the recent experience in Gaza and Lebanon, it was at least possible to understand how otherwise apparently intelligent people adhered to this "faith". But developments in the last months have been so dramatic that even retreat diehards should find themselves questioning their faith.
Today, with the illusory "safety net" gone, "act first, think - if at all - later" is simply inexcusable.
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