Fantasy vs. Reality in Palestine-Israel
Heading for Annapolis
By KATHLEEN and BILL CHRISTISON
November 26, 2007

The "Annapolis establishment," as it might be called -- those in
Israel, Palestine, and the U.S. who have a vested interest in making
the Annapolis summit look like producing something meaningful --
engaged in a strangely unreal burst of enthusiasm as the conference
neared, predicting impossible successes and purporting to see a new
level of U.S. determination to forge some kind of peace. Most
Palestinians, intensely skeptical, know better.

In a haze of unreality, headlines in Ha'aretz on Sunday, November 25,
crowed about the supposed triumphant return of the United States to
leadership of the Middle East and the world for having successfully
arranged the summit after years of setbacks in the Middle East. A
leading, usually realistic Ha'aretz correspondent declared that the
U.S. is "back as a leader in the Middle East" and will put out the
message at Annapolis that "when the U.S. calls, the world sides with
it." This is, of course, seen as a great boost to Israel's interests.
Other headlines saw a "victory" (for Israel and the U.S.) in the Arab
leaders' decision to attend and give their imprimatur to the summit,
and predicted that these developments represent a "definite blow"
weakening Hamas.

Disconcertingly, Palestinians connected to the Palestinian Authority
talk in similar, if somewhat less exaggerated, terms about the
prospects for real progress from Annapolis and appear to agree with
one key Israeli commentator who professed to believe that the Bush
administration is finally ready to "stick its neck out" to forge a
deal for a two-state peace agreement. These establishment
Palestinians, in the assessment of one serious Palestinian analyst,
are almost desperate for some kind of American involvement, as the
only hope of ever overcoming Israeli intransigence and moving toward a
peace agreement. They believe that, because the U.S. has now become
engaged and supports Mahmoud Abbas, this will bring at least a
credible peace process, and they operate on the na=EFve assumption that
if you get a peace process, you'll get peace.

But, back in real life, where Palestinians live with the grim daily
realities of the occupation and the remembrance of two wasted decades
of unproductive peacemaking efforts, any mention of Annapolis is
greeted with cynicism and black humor. To the assertions of wishful
thinkers in the establishment that Condoleezza Rice has a good
understanding of the Palestinian position going into Annapolis, the
Palestinian man in the street offers a short video on his mobile phone
-- a clip circulating so widely that it is difficult to find anyone
who has not seen it -- showing a flirtatious Rice with bouncy curls
and swinging hips, singing to a line-up of "moderate" Arab leaders
seated in front of her (the ones known to be more or less in the U.S.
pocket) that they are "good boys" for having done the U.S. bidding.

The so-called "street" in Palestine -- a term, it is important to
know, that covers a wide spectrum of ordinary, but very political,
very well informed people -- is wise to the true dynamics of this and
past "peace processes": to Israel's evasions and endless delays, to
the U.S. refusal ever to call Israel out on these deceptions, and to
the total U.S. failure to fathom or even care about the political
realities. Most Palestinians not invested by the system or captivated
by wishful thinking recognize quite clearly that negotiations U.S.-
style and Israeli-style are essentially all process with no content --
little more than a means of diverting attention from the occupation
and shielding Israel from pressure while it proceeds with the job of
swallowing Palestinian territories.

While there is little here on the ground in Palestine on which to base
any optimism and many are talking forthrightly about the defeat of
Palestine and an Israeli-U.S. victory, one does get the sense that
most Palestinians are not giving in to defeat and will continue to
resist where possible. While Palestine's establishment politicians fly
off to Annapolis, Palestine's grassroots leaders are organizing
boycott-divestment-sanctions campaigns. Approximately 500 people
attended a BDS conference in Ramallah last week. They are mobilizing
protest campaigns against the separation wall and against Annapolis
itself. Hamas, the actor in this "peace process" that everyone is
studiously trying to ignore, organized a large anti-Annapolis rally in
Gaza on Sunday, and a grassroots protest is planned for Tuesday in
Ramallah, to coincide with Annapolis' opening. They talk about
thawabit, unchangeable principles -- meaning a refusal to give in on
positions that are the very essence of the Palestinian struggle. One
young activist, after an evening spent talking about grassroots
resistance and about the need to remain firm -- "unchangeable" -- on
fundamental issues such as the right of return, came back to a subject
we thought we had exhausted and said he wanted to say one more thing
about the importance to Palestinians of the right of return: you
invalidate the entire Palestinian cause, he said, if you give up this
right. It would take the center away from the Palestinian cause and
the entire Palestinian experience. It will not be abandoned.

One gets the sense that Palestinians will not allow anyone to put
anything over on them -- not their own establishment or Israel or the
U.S. No Palestinian victory is on the horizon, by any means, but this
spirit of resistance may prevent the establishment at Annapolis from
surrendering basic rights.

Israeli correspondent Gideon Levy touched on the essence of the
conflict in a commentary in Ha'aretz that was completely at odds with
Sunday's wishful front-page headlines and indeed with the very basis
of the Annapolis summit. Addressing underlying Israeli worries that
Israel will be pressed to make costly concessions, Levy noted that
Israel is in fact not being asked to "give" anything to the
Palestinians but only "to return their stolen land and restore their
trampled self-respect, along with their fundamental human rights and
humanity." This, he says, is "the primary core issue," but no one
talks about this anymore; justice "has deliberately been erased from
all negotiations."

Levy's realization is an extremely important element in understanding
just what is wrong with Annapolis, as with all U.S. peacemaking going
back to well before the Bush administration's current efforts. Justice
for Palestinians has never been part of the equation, which is why no
peace effort has ever succeeded and why Annapolis will also sooner or
later collapse. Levy wonders, "Does Israel have the moral right to
continue the occupation?" and points out that the world, even the
Palestinian leadership, and particularly the Israelis who "bear the
guilt," have never asked this core question.

Levy speaks only about 40 years of occupation, perhaps not realizing
that, when this question is answered, the inevitable next question is,
Does Israel have the moral right to continue in possession of the
homes and land of Palestinians expelled and dispossessed in 1948? No
true peace will ever be possible unless both questions are dealt with.

Perhaps Levy expresses the real hope for the future: that there are
Israelis who have their priorities straight -- who recognize, as he
says, that the commonly accepted core issues are secondary to the
"primary core issue" of justice -- and who know that ultimately the
grave injustice that Israel has done to the Palestinians cannot
continue.

[Kathleen Christison is a former CIA political analyst and has worked
on Middle East issues for 30 years. She is the author of Perceptions
of Palestine and The Wound of Dispossession.]

[Bill Christison was a senior official of the CIA. He served as a
National Intelligence officer and as director of the CIA's Office of
Regional and Political Analysis.]

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