Why Israel's occupation did not end
Omar H. Rahman
Political leaders around the world believe they can convince the politicians of Israel to end its occupation of the territory Palestinian with apocalyptic scenarios and intelligent arguments, despite decades of experience show that it is not possible. It 's more conservative thinking, however, that the determination to end the Israeli occupation will be based on the same factors that all politicians consider when you come to a decision. What causes the status quo on me? As will be hard to make a political point of view changes in the long term? The sad reality is that Israeli leaders today have little incentive to address the immediate challenge of ending the occupation, despite the terrible long-term consequences of not doing so. So instead of waiting for the arrival of an Israeli visionary statesman, the world must take a stand and change the current cost-benefit analysis of employment, according to Israeli politicians, so far is favorable.
It 'important to understand that the occupation of Palestinian land after the 1967 war, was an immediate and irreconcilable dilemma for Israeli leaders. More than any other territory, Israel has sought to annex the West Bank, but did not want to incorporate the large Palestinian population that lived there already. It 'was a clear demonstration that Israel wants the dowry, but not the bride, and the situation now is a direct expression of this dilemma.
Over the following decades, the occupation of Palestinian territory has been undertaking a cost low enough. The Israeli military has managed all aspects of daily life of Palestinian people and provided minimal services as part of their responsibility as occupying power. Then, during the first Palestinian uprising in late 1980, the cost of political and military control of a civilly disobedient Palestinian population has become too high for Israel. For the first time, Israel was forced to deal with the national aspirations of the Palestinian people, whose final outcome was that the Oslo Accords signed in 1993 on the lawn of the White House.
The agreement drew a gradual withdrawal of employment and its substitution of Palestinian institutions, which would have resulted in the recognition of a Palestinian state by Israel. The actual result, however, was almost the opposite: the new Palestinian National Authority apparently has acquired the direct control of the villages, while the Israeli army has intensified its occupation of the rest. In essence, Israel has given the direct responsibility on the people, while continuing to make claims about the benefits from land. The intermediate phase of Oslo has given Israeli leaders the status quo have always wanted and the illusion of an answer to the dilemma of their permanent employment. Today, not only Israel does not pay for the consequences of employment, but the country actually became a source of profit and the incentive to end the occupation has largely disappeared from public consciousness in Israel.
fact, speculation by the commercial stretches of Jewish settlement in all sectors of the economy and has become - what many would call - a big deal. For example, Israel retains full administrative and military control over the Jordan Valley, the stretch of land immediately west of the Jordan River, which represents about 30 percent of the West Bank. The Jordan Valley, not only possesses considerable natural resources, but also the agricultural reserve of the West Bank and includes the Baltic Dead, another major source of income. Israel manages the entire agri-food sector of the Jordan Valley, whose products make their way to markets around the world.
Israel also maintains complete control, and free access to natural resources of Palestine, including the electromagnetic field and ground water, not to mention the decades of dependence on Israel from the Palestinian labor at low cost. In fact, the 800 million cubic meters of water drawn annually from underground aquifers in the occupied West Bank, Israel takes 688 million cubic meters and sells mostly to Palestinians for economic self-interest.
Moreover, Israel currently serves several important quarries that are located on land occupied and used for the production of cut stone and concrete. While denying Palestinians the right to build its own cement factories, Israel exports two million tonnes of cement per year to the Palestinians. In addition, Israel has forbidden Palestinians to build their own power generation plants, despite being able to do so and has been offered their assistance in this field for years by a third party. Consequently, the Palestinians acquire 97.7 percent of their electricity from Israel. In essence, Israel is preventing the Palestinians develop their skills so that, unable to fend for themselves, they can continue to exploit the markets.
The offense most striking and well known, however, is the regime of restrictions imposed by Israel on the movement of Palestinians in the occupied territories. This scheme raises the cost to Palestinians of business, giving the company a distinct competitive advantage in the Israeli Palestinian market. Go into any grocery store Palestinian, and you will find it full of Israeli goods because the Palestinians have few alternatives. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The list of commercial profiteering gets longer and longer, from tourism to construction of civil defense, Israel is making money with the occupation.
This distracts from the reality of the Israeli leaders that the occupation of Palestine is becoming a new form of apartheid. At a time when Israel began transferring its civilian population into occupied territories began this tragic process. Thus, Israel has created an entire system that facilitates the separation process for the benefit of a people than another. Separate laws, roads, infrastructure and settlements are the living reality of the deep Occupied Palestinian Territory. Unless all this is not dismantled, the compromise of the two-state will remain an empty slogan with no future, and how many are beginning to assume, could help determine a worst result for the dramatic changes in regional course at this time. But it remains to Israel to take the benefit the initiative to prevent this outcome will not occur in the absence of incentives because of the costs and benefits in the short term.
Unfortunately, the diplomatic process that, in the mid-1990, aimed to reach a permanent agreement within five years has lasted for more than 15, with the Palestinians who have been told that they have no other way for the freedom of the out of the negotiations. Just read the documents released by Al Jazeera and The Guardian to see for themselves that, even in the negotiations, Israel is not interested in reaching a permanent solution that does not meet the objective of maintaining its presence in the occupied territory. The United States has been complicit in this effort, blocking any initiative to solve the Palestinian issue out of endless bilateral negotiations. The U.S. decision to block a resolution of the UN Security Council reiterating the illegality of Israeli settlements is the most recent example of this policy and enlightening.
On the other hand, many Israeli leaders, including Foreign Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman - who currently lives in an illegal settlement in West Bank - have argued that a two-state solution can not be achieved in the near future. Lieberman has proposed rather than a solution with provisional borders. Similarly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been promoting the initiative to a so-called "economic peace". Both forms are to maintain the status quo, which only serve to destroy the possibility of two-states, allowing to strengthen further the work of colonization. However, the time for half measures is over and the interim arrangements. The policy response to immobility must affect the decision making process, in essence, altering the balance cost-benefits of employment.
There are several ways to produce this result. First, the international community must make it clear to Israel that there will be a political cost and economic data from the continuation of its occupation. Just blame the Israelis is not sufficient to make them act - The international community must respond with the economic and political pressure. Third States should act in accordance with their obligations as defined by the International Court of Justice and banish from their markets to goods produced in Israeli settlements. The UN Security Council should enforce these prohibitions with practical measures to detect and prevent others from doing business with, or in the colonies. The Palestinian government has already adopted this approach and took the initiative to make a distinction and to boycott products from the colonies. This policy does not depart from the international consensus on the settlements, but rather provides a convenient way for states to implement their stated positions so as to increase the political costs and financial employment.
A golden opportunity presented itself to the Palestinians and they must seize this moment, or risk losing forever. Far from damaging or limiting their capacity, the end of the negotiations has released the Palestinians so that they can now act in the best way for their own interests. The two pillars of Palestinian national liberation, the armed struggle and bilateral negotiations, have both been discredited for failing to produce positive results. Yet all around them, across the region is radical change, thanks to the strength of "people power" who are winning by hard work and sacrifice of their Arab neighbors. Even if the Palestinians have been oppressed for decades under the iron fist of a dictator "homemade", have been continuously oppressed and dispossessed by the strong arm of the occupation. The exercise of non-violent popular struggle against colonial occupation and the tools to become the modus operandi of a neo-Palestinian liberation movement. In the same way the Palestinians have already begun to demonstrate peacefully against the wall by Israel in places like Bil'in and Budrus, in all territories the Palestinians, wherever they live and always have to deal with these instruments with large events, organized and peaceful. This also involves the boundaries, beyond which large communities of refugees 62 years waited in vain for a solution to their dire situation.
While Israel would benefit from the current state of affairs, it is unreasonable to expect that Israeli politicians drastically alter the current situation in view of what could be a possible upheaval on a massive scale. In addition, the fragmented nature of the political structure of Israel, where small parties disproportionate influence, does not facilitate the changes. The best way to overcome this is to exercise pressure on the center of Israel, making it inconvenient politically and economically support the status quo. This action will have a dramatic impact on how Israelis perceive the political the undertaking of the settlements and the future of employment. The era in which Israel's occupation must end produces dividends. Only then can we see a change.
Omar H. Rahman is a journalist who deals with socio-political issues in the Middle East. He is a former adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team and currently lives in Ramallah.
(translated by Barbara Gagliardi)
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