Radically rethinking the Road Map
By Rachel Neuwirth April 18, 2003
President Bush should envision a "road map" that redefines the entire Middle East. The despotic and backward Arab regimes must be transformed into democracies. To accomplish a comprehensive and just peace in the region, it is necessary to examine Arab societies beyond the Judea, Samaria, and Gaza territories. If we limit our peace efforts to Israel and the Arab Palestinians, we will touch only a fraction of the bigger problem with which the free world will have to contend in the long run. In reality, the conflict is far broader than just the Arab World and Israel. At its root, it is in fact a worldwide clash between militant Islam and the democratic West.
The conflict in the Middle East is rooted in the Arab World's unwillingness to recognize Israel as a Jewish State. So, even if the dispute between the Palestinian Arabs and Israel can be resolved, it still leaves the underlying conflict untouched. This fact is exacerbated by the ideology of militant Islam ingrained in Arab society and funded by leaders in the Arab world. Militant Islam is determined to subject the world to its theocratic brand of oppression. Israel, India and every democracy, however imperfect, are an obstacle to militant Islam. The Arab world will accept neither Israel nor an Arab Palestinian democracy, because both are a threat to their leaders, who indoctrinate their people with intolerance, jihadist propaganda, and disdain for democratic ideals.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said recently: "It is inconceivable that Israel will become a legitimate state even if the peace process is implemented." On September 17, 2002, representatives of the ''Quartet Commission'' issued a statement outlining three phases of implementation for a road map to a ''concrete'' Middle East peace within three years. On September 24, President Bush laid down his vision of the "road map." Phase I of the ''road map" called for the Palestinian Arabs to hold ''free, fair, and credible elections early in 2003." Phase I also calls for the Palestinians to end their Intifada and to make substantial political reforms. But "President" Arafat has already treated this stage with characteristic cynicism. Instead of holding free, fair, and independently monitored elections for a prime minister, he simply appointed one.
More importantly, the terror of suicide bombings continues unabated. Recently, Syrian-based Islamic Jihad issued a statement saying that the suicide bombing in Netanya, which injured 58 Israelis, was a "gift" to the Iraqi people. This makes a mockery of the belief of the road map's authors that creating a state for the Palestinian Arabs would resolve this conflict or erase their commitment to Israel's demise. Furthermore, on March 31, 2003, the Jerusalem Post reported that PA official Nabil Ramlawi called for Israel's elimination and repeatedly compared Nazism and "new Zionist Nazism." At one point, Ramlawi said "Zionist Nazism" is worse than German Nazism.
Recently, Syrian mufti Sheikh Ahmad Kaftaro, the country's top Islamic religious authority, called for suicide bombings against American and British troops in Iraq: "I call on Muslims everywhere to use all means possible to thwart the aggression, including martyr operations against the belligerent American, British, and Zionist invaders. Resistance to the belligerent invaders is an obligation for all Muslims, starting with [those in] Iraq," the mufti said. And these horrific calls resonate and circulate in mosques and schools throughout the Arab world. Therefore, the majority of the Palestinian Arabs will never accept President Bush's road map. The only road map any Arab will accept is the total destruction of the state of Israel.
So, how is it possible to take Bush's "road map" seriously as a route to a just and comprehensive settlement of an almost century-old conflict? No permanent solution is possible without taking into consideration the role and responsibility of all the states in the region. The real "road map" must take into account the history of the region. To call for another Palestinian state ignores the fact that one already exists in what is presently Jordan. Why is it that only Israel has to pay the price for peace? What is the Arab world required to give in exchange for peace?
The whole region was a creation of the colonial powers of Britain and France after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire. In spite of the fact that the League of Nations mandated them to establish a Jewish national homeland in Palestine, the Arab world received about 99.5% of the Ottoman Empire and 78% of mandated Palestine (now called Jordan), while the Jews were left with only 0.5% of the land. Yet, the Arab world is not content. They want it all. They have kept the dispute alive by using the Palestinian Arabs as pawns and by blaming the failures of their own societies and governments on the West and Israel.
The Palestinian Arabs continue to engage in terror and violence. Creating a 23rd despotic Arab regime for them in the heart of Israel can never eliminate their misery or resolve the Middle East conflict. The solution is to adopt a road map that will extirpate all regimes in the region that generate hate and terrorism. Not until the Arab world accepts, recognizes, and respects the legal right of the Jewish people to their homeland in historic Palestine will lasting peace be achieved in the Middle East.
This is what the real road map should focus on, and until such a plan is implemented, the region will continue to be a volcano ready to explode |
