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32
If you are what you eat,
'hy not cut back on fat?
OPINION
Palestinians Need
A Change Of Heart
RUDY BOSCHWITZ
Special to The Jewish News
W
I hat is the single most
important ingredient for
. facilitating Israeli-Pales-
tinian peace?
From media accounts, one would
think that peace hinges on whether
Israel gives up another 11 percent or
13 percent of the territories. Or that
peace depends on Israel supporting
Jewish settlements in those territories.
Or that peace hinges on Israel allow-
ing Arafat to establish a full-fledged
Palestinian state.
One would be wrong.
In the end, Middle East peace is not
determined by percentages nor settle-
ments nor by borders. It is determined
by whether or not the Palestinians have
undergone a real and permanent change
in their hearts — a change in their basic
attitude toward Jews and Israel.
Rudy Boschwitz, former U.S. senator
from Minnesota, is honorary chair of the
Committee for a Secure Peace.
The underlying
premise of the
Oslo peace agree-
ment was that
Israel would give
up land and, in
exchange, the
Palestinians would
undergo such a
change of heart.
That is, they
would truly
accept the legiti-
macy of Israel's
existence and live
in peace with
Israelis.
The various
requirements included in the Oslo
Accords were intended as sort of test
of Palestinian intentions. For example,
they were obligated to change the
PLO Covenant, their ideological char-
ter, so that it no longer called for the
destruction of Israel; that would prove
they no longer aspire to wipe out the
Jewish state. They were required to
stop preaching hatred and violence
against Israel; that would show they
were no longer inciting their people
against the Jewish state. They were
also required to extradite terrorists to
Israel; that would demonstrate they no
longer regard terrorists as heroes to
emulate and it would bring murderers
to justice.
Yet they have fulfilled none of those
PALESTINIANS NEED
to page 33
LETTERS
will, lead to the collapse of the agree-
ment.
It seems to me that nobody with
any experience in negotiations would
commit himself to such a process.
MOreover, the Israeli negotiators failed
to consider the very likely pressure
that the United States and almost the
entire world community will exert on
Israel, especially in the final phase of
the negotiations in order to prevent its
collapse. Even in the early stage of the
Oslo process, the pressure and threat
of sanctions should, by now, be visible
to all.
The worst is yet to come. As to be
expected, the western nations act in
their own national interest, balancing
friendship of hundreds of millions of
Muslims and their immense oil
resources against the value of Israel.
This is especially true now as the col-
lapse of the former Soviet Union has
largely diminished Israel's strategic
importance.
In my opinion, the negotiation
should have proceeded as follows: It
should have started with Israel's a pri-
ori determination of its absolute secu-
rity needs and, therefore, the identifi-
cation of territories that could be
ceded.
Furthermore, in a democratic coun-
try where the populace has a vital
interest in the outcome, the plan, after
a suitable period of explanation and
discussion, should be subjected to a
referendum. It seems to me that such
an approach in the Oslo negotiations
has had a chance to succeed, especially
in view of the fact that Palestinians
started out with nothing before their
appetite was whetted by the ever-larger
Prime Minister Netanyahu.
concessions and overwhelming sup-
port they received from the rest of the
world. Obviously, the dictum that
"appetite comes with the eating"
applies here.
Assuming that the Palestinians
would have rejected such an offer,
Israel would have been less damaged
than under the present approach.
Instead of ceding a substantial part of
the territories and still not having
peace, at least they would retain the
entire West Bank for defensive purpos-
es.
In this context, I try to understand
most of Netanyahu's actions. He tries
to salvage whatever he can from a very
bad deal. Even those who disagree
with him should give him credit for
the courage to withstand the tremen-
dous pressure and opprobrium to
which he is subjected. This, together
with the absence of unified support
from Jewish leaders in the United
States, combined with ill-timed
demands by certain, otherwise well-
meaning religious leaders, gave the
administration the impression that
they have nothing to fear from
aroused Jewish voters. Contrast this
with this administration's irrational
embargo policy toward Cuba. It is the
united stand of Cuban expatriates in
Florida that prevents the change of
this misguided policy.
Faced with such difficulties, I have
to admire Netanyahu's fortitude in
defending what, in his view, is Israel's
vital security interest.
Henry Starkman
Bloomfield Hills