“There is a new Arab League peace offensive.” That was the headline of a tiny piece in Haaretz last week stating that the Arab League was preparing itself to propose a UN Security Council Resolution backing the Arab League Peace initiative, aka the Saudi peace plan. This initiative calls for complete and comprehensive peace between Israel and all of the members of the Arab League. The plan was backed unanimously by the Arab League summit of Beirut in March 2006 and reaffirmed at the Arab League summit this year in Khartoum. Most Israelis remember quite well the Khartoum summit that said: No negotiations, no recognition and no peace. A lot of water has flowed, even through the Jordan River, since then. When I read the headlines about an Arab League Peace offensive, I had to make sure that I was reading correctly. The Arab League Peace plan is probably the best deal that Israel could ever hope to get, yet almost no one in Israel takes it seriously. Most Israeli opposition to the plan is based on what is stated on the issue of refugees “Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194”. Israelis reject the idea of a solution based on Resolution 194 which the Israelis see as recognizing the right of return. What is new and important in the sentence above is the use of the word “agreed”. This is the first time that there is a formal recognition that Israel must agree to the solution and secondly the agreement should be in accordance with Resolution 194 and not the usual language that Resolution 194 must be implement by Israel.
Further Israel opposition comes from the clause about Jerusalem and the definition of borders: “The acceptance of the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.” Palestinians have already accepted the idea of territorial exchange as well as the Clinton parameters on Jerusalem (what’s Jewish to Israel, what’s Arab to the Palestinians) which were already the basis for the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in Taba in January 2001. The Arab League peace initiative is the first Arab document ever that states that “the Arab countries affirm the following:
I- Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the states of the region
II- Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace.”
Israel rejection of this initiative should be re-visited. The Arab world, with all of its oil revenues would be well advised to invest a large amount of money on educating the Israel public about the positive elements of the Arab League Peace initiative. The main thing preventing the advancement of the initiative is not a UN Resolution, that will not change anything (despite Israel’s recent affection for UN resolutions), but the fact that the Israeli public doesn’t know anything about the initiative, except for the negative things stated by the government. The Israeli public needs to hear clear and coherent voices from Arab leaders throughout the Arab world in favor of peace with Israel. If the Arab League wants to wage a peace offensive, its address should be in Israel, not in New York.
Gershon Baskin is the Co-CEO of IPCRI – the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information. www.ipcri.org
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