Force-Feeding Peace
por Miryam Lindberg, 20 de septiembre de 2010
Our contemporary Western world has such a sanitized vision of human nature that the whole process of conflict resolution is becoming increasingly warped. Apparently, most of our Western politicians have idealized peace to such an extent that abandoning moral principles and reason is acceptable in order to achieve whatever amorphous result they can brand as “peace.”
Since our policies must pass through the filter of political correctness, we still haven’t been able to fully adapt realistically to the new world we live in. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the 9/11 terrorist attacks changed the world in a way we don’t seem to grasp yet. Due to those two earth-shattering events, new security challenges have arisen, yet oftentimes we can’t even come to grips with what they really are – we might be offending someone if we call a spade a spade. Moving at a glacial pace, the Western diplomatic world is still chasing the ghost of the Cold War enemy, still immersed in a pre-9/11 mentality. Just see them at work in the new round of talks regarding the so-called “Israeli-Palestinian peace process,” the ever-elusive quest of establishing peace in the Middle East. Westerners, with Mr. Obama at the helm, insist on that we will get it right “this time.”
Already during the last decades of the twentieth century, terrorism emerged as a force with no geographic – or moral – boundaries and its fast expansion is one negative byproduct of globalization. Islamist terrorism, with jihadism as its most violent expression, threatens all civilizations with its barbaric ways and purist vision. Yet the West is pressing Israel, a democratic country exposed to the existential threat of Islamist terrorism, to overlook that small detail in order to reach a peace accord. Lost in idealistic visions of human nature, we are just asking too much. Although it is highly desirable to find soon a way out to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such as the two-state solution, it takes two to tango and Israel will continue to have a very hard time finding the right tango partner in its struggle for peace and security. Hamas and Hezbollah, two terrorists groups sponsored by Iran, do not have the slightest inclination to contribute to the success of such Western projects. On the contrary, their objective is to impose their Islamist creed on the region and they unabashedly seek the destruction of the State of Israel using, among other means, the terrorism weapon – one of their preferred resources all along.
A realistic analysis of the current Israeli-Palestinian situation will have to conclude that an imminent solution is not at hand. You can’t hurry peace; you can’t force-feed peace. Conflict is part of human nature; peace is usually a hard-earned achievement, born out of painful circumstances, and it comes in different shapes and sizes. As Israeli diplomat Abba Eban once said; “History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.” When it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we aren’t there yet. We actually have a long way to go before reaching that nirvana.
However, many of our diplomats, peace negotiators, and experts are utterly convinced that peace is possible in spite of the openly declared intention of annihilating Israel expressed by some actors in the region. Just because we want peace at all costs doesn’t mean we should delude ourselves into thinking that all parties share the same peaceful discernment. Our moral malleability is leading us to believe that we can convince Hamas and Hezbollah to join us in kind, willfully ignoring their uncompromising stance about Israel, which is based on theological tenets – a concept increasingly foreign to our Western ways. No Israeli concession can change that reality. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas can hardly control the West Bank, what kind of a deal can he really offer to advance peace and security? Actually none; yet we seem oblivious to that fact.
After so much time, goodwill, and money spent, Western policymakers need to reconceptualize the whole issue of “peace in the Middle East.” There are just too many unrealistic expectations and too much wishful thinking in order to achieve any successful resolution. Not only the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the same can be said about human history – frequently with dire consequences. In the case of a lofty goal such as peace, all parties must be willing to sacrifice for it and actually make difficult concessions. Are they all willing to do so today? The answer is no. Will our eyes bear witness to that extraordinary event? Only time will tell. But, for sure, it won’t be now.
Miryam Lindberg is a longtime contributor to the Strategic Studies Group (GEES)