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Saudi Peace Plan Worth Revisiting
D
on’t read too much into Israel’s
beleaguered prime minister and
controversial new defense minis-
ter spouting support for selected planks in
the platform of the dusty 2002 Arab Peace
Initiative.
In recent weeks,
both Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and
Defense Minister Avigdor
Liberman, both leaders
in Israel’s right-leaning
Likud party, have cited
elements of the Saudi
peace plan as a means to
Benjamin
rekindling talks intended
Netanyahu
to resolve the seem-
ingly intractable Israeli-
Palestinian conflict.
The two leaders
imagine direct, bilateral
negotiations yielding a
Palestinian state. Of
course, the right condi-
tions would have to
Avigdor
bubble up for there to
Liberman
be hope amid electrified
hurdles like borders, security, mutual rec-
ognition, refugees, settlements, Jerusalem,
water rights and holy sites.
Israel’s military occupation of the West
Bank is a defensive bulwark, necessitated
in part by the Palestinian penchant for
inflicting violence on Israel from Palestinian
Authority-controlled areas of the West Bank,
the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and the Arab-
dominated eastern sector of Jerusalem. Just
last week in a terrorist attack, two 21-year-
old Palestinian cousins from the West Bank
guest column
opened fire on an open-air shop-
ping center in Tel Aviv, killing four
Israelis and seriously wounding four
others.
THE FINE PRINT
END AROUND?
All along, the Arab world has main-
Support for the Arab Peace
tained the Arab Peace Initiative,
Initiative and the two-state solution
Robert Sklar
brokered by the Arab League,
by both Netanyahu and Liberman
Contributing Editor
would be the gateway to realizing
could well be a bid to allay some of
two states, one Jewish and one
the diplomatic damage caused by
Palestinian, living side by side, in
the hard right turn the Netanyahu
peace. The notion will remain fantastical
government is taking, according to a June 1
until both sides accept the plan as a start
editorial in the Washington Post.
point toward constructive negotiating. The
That belief resonates given the interna-
plan proposes the division of Jerusalem
tional community is tightening the diplomat-
and a return to the borders before the 1967
ic vice on Israel — Israel’s pro-settler Jewish
Six-Day War (with mutually approved land
Home party’s opposition to a Palestinian
swaps) — both white-hot issues in the con-
state of any sort notwithstanding.
text of Israel’s security and history.
With Netanyahu seemingly open to the
Specifically, the plan calls for Israel’s
Arab Peace Initiative, is the time right for
evacuation of land captured in the Six-Day
revived peace talks? Perhaps.
War, including the West Bank and the Golan
In a surprising pronouncement to the
Heights. Israel is prepared to negotiate a sov- Knesset on May 31, the Israeli prime minis-
ereign Palestinian state that would include
ter said: “We are willing to negotiate with the
much of the West Bank outside the larger
Arab states’ revisions to that initiative so that
Jewish settlement blocs. But leaving the mili- it reflects the dramatic changes in the region
tarily strategic Golan plateau would put Israel since 2002 but maintains the agreed goal of
squarely in the crosshairs of the Lebanon–
two states for two peoples.”
based Shiite terrorist organization Hezbollah,
IT TAKES TWO
an ally of Syria’s tyrannical and embattled
Therein lies the grand challenge.
leader, Bashar Assad.
Anything’s possible in pursuit of real
The plan also seeks a “just settlement”
peace, but Palestinian intransigence toward
of the Palestinian refugee matter. Does that
mean overwhelming Israel with “refugees” as renewed talks and P.A. President Mahmoud
defined by the Palestinian Authority and the Abbas’ dwindling popularity renders
Netanyahu’s hope a pipedream.
United Nations? That would end Israel as a
Still, it’s a hope worth pursuing.
Jewish state.
The Saudi initiative, even if Netanyahu
In exchange for a negotiated implementa-
from SAFE’s effort to intimi-
date.
Leading up to the U-M
student government vote on
ate has infiltrated my beloved
boycotting Israel in 2014, SAFE
alma mater, University of
verbally attacked Jewish stu-
Michigan. Like my alumni
dents. No serious action was
friends, it’s hard for me to fathom that
taken by the administration to
Miriam Tylevich
the hate on campus is directed toward
stop their threats. Furthermore,
people like me, a Jew and a supporter
just months ago, Jesse Arm, a
of Israel. We, the Jewish community, must
sophomore from the Metro Detroit Jewish
show the university that we care about each
community, was stripped of his right to free
other, our safety and our freedom.
speech on campus.
Pro-Palestinians and certain members of
SAFE decided to stage a protest on the
the Muslim community at the University
same day that American student, Ezra
of Michigan are united and organized
Schwartz, was murdered by a Palestinian
under the student group SAFE. They use
terrorist while traveling to deliver snacks
any reason to speak out against Jews and
to Israel soldiers in the West Bank. Ezra
Israel. Their voices are heard and the school
had been one of Jesse’s friends, and Jesse, a
administration listens, knowing the group is member of the Central Student Government
powerfully united under their own agenda.
(CSG), asked SAFE to change its message
The Jewish community, on the other hand,
and choose another day for its protest.
remains relatively silent.
Jesse’s peaceful exercise of his right of free
The school administration effectively
speech led to frivolous charges and a sub-
promotes an anti-Semitic environment on
sequent trial by the ethics committee. Jesse
campus by neglecting to provide adequate
was cleared of wrongdoing but faced the
protection for Jewish and pro-Israel students trauma of having to defend himself as well
Hate On Campus
H
8 June 16 • 2016
tion of the plan, the Arab League’s
22 member states would normalize
relations with Israel. Israel has never
formally engaged the offer.
as the potential dismissal from his position
with the CSG right before final exams.
Rina Steinberg, a freshman at U-M, wrote
about the event in the Times of Israel, noting
how uncomfortable and even how unsafe
she feels as a Jew and Israel supporter on
campus, specifically because of the singling
out and unfair treatment of Jewish students
by recognized groups under the university
umbrella.
History has indicated that when the
Jewish community keeps silent, anti-Semi-
tism will continue to grow. Jewish establish-
ments must rethink the way they deal with
anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism (which are
really one and the same) on campus and
speak up.
Individuals in the Jewish community need
to do the same. The Zionist Organization
of America’s Center for Law and Justice,
StandWithUs and the Jewish Bar Association
of Michigan are ready and able to provide
legal help to any student who feels threat-
ened or concerned. If you have a connection
with the University of Michigan, please take
action by making your opinion known.
In February of this year, a few individu-
and Liberman aren’t sincere in their support,
just might bring the Palestinians back to the
table. The plan not only is
on Jerusalem’s radar, but
it’s also in the sight lines
of Egyptian President
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the
Arab leader most apt to
broker a peace deal. As
much as Abbas has prov-
en incapable of inspiring
Abdel Fattah
a deal, Sisi has shown the
el-Sisi
swagger to help advance
regional peace and secu-
rity. He commands the respect of both the
P.A. and Israel.
Liberman, an ultranationalist who lives
in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank,
weighed in by asserting the Saudi initia-
tive contains “some very positive elements”
that could bring “serious dialogue” in a new
round of talks.
MOVING AHEAD
The Arab Peace Initiative alone isn’t the
answer to a conflict of culture as much as
politics. But nothing else has worked, includ-
ing varying efforts by the U.S., France and
Russia to coax a two-state solution.
The long-ignored plan seems to have
some traction now in both Israel and the
Arab world — with Egypt, one of two Arab
nations holding a functioning peace treaty
with Israel, ready to try to help mediate
something mutually acceptable.
The plan might just well be a viable new
start point — provided the Palestinians’ cul-
ture of anti-Zionist hatred somehow can be
fundamentally changed.
*
als spoke in front of the university’s Board
of Regents, and I did so in March. The
board indicated our concerns are not going
unnoticed and that our actions do have an
impact on the university. On the other hand,
the university responded to letters from
concerned individuals in the community by
denying there was a problem. Yet, despite
this contradiction, we must push forward.
We must increase our advocacy and
engagement on Michigan campuses. This is
the only way that we can force universities
like Michigan to take real action to protect
Jews. If not, our children, grandchildren,
siblings or friends at U-M will continue to be
attacked and silenced, and this is something
I can no longer stand.
Please reach out to The Zionist
Organization of America’s Center for Law
and Justice, StandWithUs and the Jewish Bar
Association of Michigan if you would like
more information or assistance to support
our Jewish and pro-Israel U-M students.
*
Miriam Tylevich graduated from University of
Michigan School of Social Work in 2012, works as a
psychotherapist and lives in Oak Park.