ME Diplomacy-Prospects for Arab-Israeli Regional Cooperation
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by  Silvan Shalom
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Published February 2010
 Daily Alert
Vol. 9, No. 19    7 February 2010 
   Jerusalem Issue Brief
 Post Holocaust Anti-Semitism
Prospects for Arab-Israeli Regional Cooperation 
 Changing Jewish
Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom  Communities
  GO
Regional cooperation begins with resuming negotiations with the Our Fellows' Books
Palestinians. In the interests of achieving a just, lasting, and
comprehensive peace, Israel sees the economic domain as one of
the cornerstones of good relations.
Political dialogue with our Palestinian partners is critical, but it will
not be furthered by allowing a settlement freeze to be imposed as
a precondition to negotiation. Nor will it be advanced by a unilateral
Palestinian declaration of statehood.
Beyond the Palestinian question, the largest obstacle to regional
peace is the current Iranian regime, which continues to do
everything in its power to undermine the moderate regimes in the
Middle East, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and the good
relations that Israel might have with Muslim and Arab countries.
La Shoah
If Syria is transferring missiles to Hizbullah, then Syria cannot be - Freddy Eytan-
serious about making peace. Although Syrian rhetoric is full of
Publications List
references to that country's willingness to negotiate, Syrian support
and financing of terrorist organizations belie the claim. Still, Prime Show Publications
Minister Netanyahu has stated clearly that he is willing to resume
By Year
negotiations with Syria without preconditions.
By Author
  
The Time Has Come to Make Peace  Search Articles
Keywords
The time has come to make peace in the Middle East and, in my view,
the prospects are good, provided the Americans and the Europeans act Topic
judiciously to help the parties involved narrow the gaps. All
All
Date
Regional cooperation begins with resuming negotiations with the Anytime
Anytime
Palestinians. As minister of regional cooperation, I am working to
implement some projects with the Arab world, but with the Palestinians it
is more difficult than with the others, in part because of the personalities Send to a friend
involved.  
Print page
Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is trying to build his political career as an
independent. He is not part of Fatah, and many senior officials in Fatah
oppose him. They view him as someone who has spent too many years in
the United States and who had been "bought" by Condoleezza Rice and
George Bush. Fayyad knows that in order to build himself up as a political
figure, he must not engage Israel in a way that would hamper support
from his Palestinian constituency. The Palestinian Minister for National
Economy, Bassem Khoury, was forced to resign after he met with me
under the auspices of the Joint Economic Committee formed in 1995 in
ME Diplomacy-Prospects for Arab-Israeli Regional Cooperation

order to implement the Paris Protocol, the economic part of the Oslo
Accords.  

Having met PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad many

times, I believe that they are sincere about their willingness to move
towards peace. Of course they envision peace quite differently than Israel
does. Abbas, for instance, says that peace should include the
implementation of the "right of return," which of course would spell the
end of the State of Israel.

Anyone who imagines that Marwan Barghouti, a terrorist currently serving

five life terms, should be president of the PA, or that he could bring an
end to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, is gravely
mistaken.  
 

Initiatives to Assist West Bank Development 

In the meantime, there is much Israel can do to work toward the

achievement of a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace. First, Israel
sees the economic domain as one of the cornerstones of good relations.
Some examples: Israel, together with the EU (Germany, in particular), is
trying to set up an industrial zone in Bethlehem. Israel has opened a
vehicle crossing that will enable 500 cars a day to cross from the Israeli
side to Jenin in the West Bank. Israeli Arabs shopping in Nablus and
other places are helping the PA economy to grow at a rate of close to 8
percent.  

The American Jewish Committee's Paris representative, Valérie

Hoffenberg, who also acts as a special envoy of President Nicolas
Sarkozy, comes to Israel every two weeks, and now she would like to get
involved with the project to link the Red Sea and Dead Sea with a canal.
We are also planning to develop the Jordan River for tourists, so that they
can access the place where, according to the New Testament, Jesus was
baptized by St. John. We are working to grant licenses to Jordanian
investors to enable them to build in the Ramallah area. Finally, to ease
the daily life of the Palestinians, Israel has removed hundreds of
roadblocks and checkpoints since the Netanyahu government came into
power in April 2009.   
 

The Need for Political Dialogue 

Progress must come not only through economic measures, but also
through political dialogue. The settlement freeze initiated by Prime Minister
Netanyahu in order to restart negotiations with the Palestinians was
unprecedented. No settlement freeze was imposed on Prime Minister
Ehud Barak when he offered the Palestinians 90 percent of the territories,
nor on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon when he carried out the
disengagement from Gaza, nor on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert when he
offered 96 to 98.5 percent of the West Bank. Moreover, if negotiations
begin with an agreement on the creation of a Palestinian state and a
settlement freeze - both issues forthe final status negotiations - then what
is left to negotiate besides the status of Jerusalem and the refugees,
where there is a deadlock?  

The recognition of Israel as a Jewish state is not a precondition. Israel's

recognition of the Palestinian right to an independent state is equivalent to
a Palestinian recognition of the existence of the State of Israel, which by
Israeli law is a Jewish state. It cannot be, therefore, that Israel will
recognize the Palestinian right to an independent state without Palestinian
recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. At the same time, the Palestinian
plan to unilaterally declare statehood in two years is not feasible; the
international community will not recognize a Palestinian state within the

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ME Diplomacy-Prospects for Arab-Israeli Regional Cooperation

1967 borders through Security Council fiat. A Palestinian state should be

achieved through dialogue and negotiations, and not as a unilateral
move.  

Israel will negotiate with Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad - or their
replacements if they resign - but not with Hamas, which has to this day
not abandoned its ambition to destroy Israel. According to the Hamas
covenant, the land currently occupied by Israel belongs not to the
Palestinians, nor to the Arabs, but to every Muslim around the world,
which is why no Muslim - whether he is a king or a president - has the
right to relinquish even an inch of that territory.  

As foreign minister, I persuaded the European Union in 2004 to place

Hamas on the list of terrorist organizations, a decision that was followed
immediately by Canada, Australia, and Japan. Hamas still refuses to meet
the three conditions on negotiations agreed upon by the international
community: recognition of the existence of Israel, a renunciation of
terrorism, and an acceptance of previous agreements signed by the
Palestinian Authority. 

Israel desires peace, but a peace that will ensure security. If the
Palestinians come to the table, Israel will negotiate immediately.   
 

The Iranian Threat 

Beyond the Palestinian question, however, there are larger obstacles to

regional peace. The current Iranian regime - eager to revive the Persian
Empire and to become a regional power - continues to do everything in its
power to undermine the moderate regimes in the Middle East, the Israeli-
Palestinian peace process, and the good relations that Israel might have
with Muslim and Arab countries.  

Regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions, the time has come to make decisions
and take action.
The dithering of the international community, which continues to beg the
Iranians to accept its offers, has merely enabled the Iranians to buy time.
The world no longer believes that a nuclear Iran is Israel's problem alone,
and indeed this may boost President Obama's efforts to reach a
consensus for tough sanctions. It is also true that Iran's high-volume trade
with the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia, Japan,
and others makes it vulnerable to such sanctions. But Iran will never
abandon its ambitions to obtain nuclear weapons. To wait for a Security
Council resolution, therefore, is a waste of time. Russia and China, for
one thing, are not likely to impose real sanctions. Energy-hungry China
has signed a $75 billion oil contract with Iran.  

Yet quite apart from its nuclear ambitions, Iran seeks to exert pressure on
regimes within the Middle East, and eventually to control the whole
region. A newly reinvigorated Hizbullah remains the long arm of Iran.
Hizbullah is now estimated to have 40,000 to 50,000 missiles with a much
longer range than it deployed during the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah recently claimed that his militia has
missiles that put all of Israeli territory within range. IDF Chief of Staff Gabi
Ashkenazi admitted that Hizbullah now has missiles with a range of 300
kilometers, or 200 miles. Weapons smuggling from Iran and Syria to
Lebanon continues through Syria's Damascus airport and Latakia seaport
in blatant violation of UN Resolution 1701. UNIFIL is doing little, if
anything, to stem the flow of weapons.   
 

Syrian Support for Terror Groups 

Needless to say, if Syria is transferring missiles to Hizbullah, then Syria

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ME Diplomacy-Prospects for Arab-Israeli Regional Cooperation

cannot be serious about making peace. Although Syrian rhetoric is full of

references to that country's willingness to negotiate, Syrian support and
financing of terrorist organizations belie the claim. All the weapons sent
from Iran to Hizbullah go through Syria. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have
headquarters and training camps in Syria. Still, Prime Minister Netanyahu
has stated clearly that he is willing to resume negotiations with Syria
without preconditions  
 

Conclusion 

We have in some respects already narrowed the gaps between Israel and
individual Arab countries. Egypt and Jordan have embassies in Israel, and
Israel has a significant natural gas agreement with Egypt. I have met the
foreign ministers of Pakistan and Indonesia and others from the Gulf
States and North Africa. I visited Tunisia - the first visit of an Israeli
minister to arrive in an Israeli airplane - as well as Turkey, Mauritania, and
other countries that cannot yet be revealed. Despite the region's many
dangers, I hope that through judicious negotiations, responsible
leadership, and deft diplomacy, Israel can in the coming years do even
more to foster regional cooperation. 
 
*     *     * 

Silvan Shalom has served as Vice Prime Minister, Foreign Minister,

Minister of Finance, Minister of Science, and Deputy Minister of Defense.
He is currently Israel's Vice Prime Minister, Minister for Regional
Development, and Minister of Development of the Negev and Galilee. This
Jerusalem Issue Brief is based on his presentation to the Institute for
Contemporary Affairs in Jerusalem on November 12, 2009.

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