Indyk calls for US-led trusteeship ahead of Palestinian statehood
By HERB KEINON
A US-led trusteeship, backed by a US fighting force, is needed to shepherd the Palestinians to a position where they are able to establish a state, former US ambassador Martin Indyk said Tuesday.
Indyk, speaking at the third annual Herzliya Conference, said although "everybody agrees that the solution is a two-state one, with an independent Palestinian state living alongside Israel, nobody knows how to get there."
The US-backed road map, the purpose of which is to lead the sides to that position, is unrealistic, Indyk said, because it demands reciprocal steps neither side will be able to carry out.
Indyk said the experiment of reform or replacing Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has not produced anything, and "no one in the Palestinian Authority seems to be willing or able to prevent terrorism."
Israel will not be willing to move out of Area A until there is a viable Palestinian security force that can effectively deal with terrorism, he said. As a result, what is needed is a trusteeship, an idea "used to good effect in Kosovo and East Timor," he added.
Under this plan, an international summit would be called and a Palestinian state would be declared on the 42 percent of land the Palestinians currently control, plus an additional 10% to ensure territorial contiguity.
The summit would place the area in the hands of a US-led trusteeship to help build free democratic institutions, the economy, and an effective security apparatus, Indyk said.
"The trusteeship will be in place for three years, but this will be a timeline, not a deadline, and it would remain in place until the Palestinians could prove that they can fulfill their obligations," he said. In the meantime, Israel and the Palestinians would negotiate a final-status deal, he added.
Indyk envisions an American fighting force helping the Palestinians create the security force needed to fight terrorism. Before September 11 it would have been unthinkable for American troops to fight Palestinian terrorism, but today it is within the realm of possibility, Indyk said, noting that this would be marketed to the Arabs not as fighting for Israel, but rather fighting for a Palestinian state free of terrorism.
Before Indyk's speech, former US Middle East envoy Dennis Ross said he has problems with the trusteeship idea, as well as three others floating around Washington outside the administration on how to end the conflict, because it "sends a message to the Palestinians that they do not have to assume responsibility, make decisions, and be accountable."
The other three ideas Ross discounted were imposing a solution on the sides, expelling Arafat, and letting the two sides exhaust each other and then find a solution.
Ross said assuming the US goes to war and removes Saddam Hussein, it will be a "seismic change" that may "embolden Palestinian reformers." In that situation, he said, "the Arabs will come to the president and say you proved what you can do in war, now prove what you can do in peace."
Indyk said the US should then tell the Palestinians unequivocally that Palestinian statehood will not be born out of violence. The administration should also, he said, tell other Arab governments in no uncertain terms that they need to "team with Palestinian reformers" and create a new Palestinian narrative that says it is no longer counterproductive to kill Israelis "but that it is wrong." Ross was critical of the administration's present Mideast polices, saying there is no real debate going on in Washington over the Israel-Palestinian issue.
He said the US road map "creates the illusion of specificity," while leaving the various steps in the plan wide open to interpretations. "It doesn't provide criteria for performance," he said, adding that the interpretation of each step will itself become the focus of negotiations.
According to Ross, the plan "calls for a cease-fire and Palestinian performance, but the illegitimacy of violence is not there."
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