Image Credit BBSNews 2006-08-17.
What steps are required for the future?
BBSNews 2006-08-17 -- Much has been made about "root causes" of both the crisis in Gaza and the West Bank, and of course the war in Lebanon. We asked several well known Middle East experts what their thoughts are on what will have to happen in the future to correct this endless cycle of violence and bring about peace. Today we feature Mouin Rabbani, Contributing Editor at the Middle East Report. The following is the question BBSNews posed:
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Representative Map of some of the countries in and around the current conflicts in the region.
Image Credit BBSNews 2006-08-17. |
"What steps from this point should be taken on the part of the United Nations and its member countries for the Mid-East region to bring about a lasting and final peace between Israel and the Arab world;And how if those steps were taken, would the so-called 'War on Terror' be better or worse served from the outcome of United Nations future action in response to this latest Israel Lebanon war if your proposed solution in the first part of our question was adopted as a policy?"
And here are Mouin Rabbani's thoughts on the matter:
"It's been eminently clear for decades that there can be no durable peace in the Middle East unless and until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved. This would require a negotiated settlement on the basis of a full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories, a just resolution of the Palestinian refugee question, and subsidiary arrangements necessary for peaceful coexistence between Israel and a Palestinian state. Without an Israeli-Palestinian peace there can be no broader Arab-Israeli peace.The framework for achieving such a peace already exists in the form of various UN resolutions, including a number that have been unanimously adopted by the Security Council over the years. What is lacking is the willingness and resolve to implement them, particularly on the part of the United States.
It's been equally clear for decades that the continued dispossession of the Palestinian people has been a leading engine of radicalisation - among Palestinians, Arabs, and others in the region and beyond. This is not to claim it has been the only cause, or that resolving this conflict will eliminate extremism, but so long as the question of Palestine is not answered correctly further radicalisation should be expected.
The experience of a-Qaida is instructive in this respect. Usama bin Ladin claims that the idea of the 9/11 attacks germinated in response to Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Would a durable Israeli-Palestinian peace persuade him to renounce his current views? Of course not. Would such a peace deprive al-Qaida of a vital recruitment tool? Certainly.
A similar argument can be made about the latest Lebanon war. It is certain to have further radicalised many in the Arab and Muslim worlds, with consequences that may take years to become apparent.
So achieving a durable settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and particularly ending the Israeli occupation, is not only the right thing to do, it also makes good strategic sense. That said, the chances of the UN and its member states doing the right thing in the forseeable future are marginal at best, for reasons noted above."
| Mouin Rabbani is senior Middle East analyst with the International Crisis Group, specializing on Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict, and a contributing editor of Middle East Report. The Crisis Group recently released a new report, "Israel/Palestine/Lebanon: Climbing Out of the Abyss," which analyzes the regional crisis and proposes steps to defuse it. |
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