Barak and Lessons from the Past
Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak is enjoying the massive victory of the recent elections in Israel. He might also be enjoying the transformation of Arab leaders from players in the Middle East political arena into spectators of both the Israeli elections and the formation of the new Israeli government. Under those circumstances, Barak may be in need of additional far-sightedness.
The Middle East is characterized by dynamism. Things here change rapidly. That is why making use of opportunities and taking advantage of suitable moments is extremely necessary for political success. This is also why timing is extremely significant for Barak, because he can take advantage of the current political momentum, his massive victory, the devastation of his opposition, Likud, in addition to the unrestrained enthusiasm among Palestinian and Arab leaders.
If making significant progress in the peace process with the Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese is a priority for Barak--as he says it is--then it is advisable to move fast. The current political situation is ideal for progress, especially from an Israeli point of view. If Barak will try to avoid opposition by including the right wing in the government then there will be no progress. This conservative and cautious approach will not only waste the momentum created by the Israeli elections, but will also present a golden opportunity for opponents of the peace process in Israel and Palestine to "get their acts together."
If Barak opts for progress, then the Israeli right wing will be his natural opposition. They will then have the opportunity to improve their organization. They will do whatever necessary to place obstacles in front of this government, one made weaker by the exclusion of Likud. We should not underestimate the ability of the right wing and extremists, especially when they are desperate.
On the Palestinian side, Hamas and Islamic activists who have been relatively quiet in the last two years were actually quiet because Netanyahu was saving them the efforts of sabotaging the peace process and the failure of the peace process. Coupled with the poor performance of the Palestinian Authority, this put them in an advantageous position, able to gain sympathy and support from growing portions of the Palestinian society. With the uncertainty of the new political future, they may very well change their strategy to make use of a growing popularity and credibility among the people.
Barak must learn from lessons of the past. When the Labor-led government under late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin reached the historical agreement with the Palestinian leadership, the move had tremendous momentum and the public on both sides gave it a great deal of support and. But Rabin, who was in the driver's seat, decided to be slow and cautious, giving enough time for opponents on both sides to take action, delaying and sabotaging the peace process, and bringing on Rabin's assassination. If the public is to give its support for the peace process, then this peace process should be practically convincing and bring about positive material changes to convince the public that peace is worth defending and protecting. Otherwise, the enemies of the pace process will have fertile ground for their cause.
Benjamin Netanyahu marked his last days as Israeli Prime Minister with a flurry of settlement building in Jerusalem and the announcement of more to come. On May 28, Palestinians protested the confiscation of four acres of land at Ras al-Amud in East Jerusalem. In violent confrontations, Israeli police beat French and Egyptian journalists and Palestinian demonstrators trying to enter the compound, also wrestling with Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi and Jerusalem leader Faisal Husseini.
The biggest land-grab of the week, however, was Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens' approval of a plan to confiscate 10,000 dunums of land near the Palestinian village of Isawiyah. The confiscation would link Ma'ale Adumim, the West Bank's largest settlement of 25,000 residents, and Jerusalem, effectively closing East Jerusalem off from the rest of the West Bank. Presently, Ma'ale Adumim covers more area than the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
Although Yitzhak Rabin's government drafted the original confiscation plans, outgoing Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai advised against the move last year, saying it would taint Israeli-Palestinian relations. Expanding Ma'ale Adumim could spark a situation like Kosovo in Palestine, said head Palestinian negotiator Se'ab Erekat. The Clinton administration also condemned the move, saying "it was a provocative step that would complicate negotiations with the Palestinians."
No doubt wishing to remind Israelis -- intent on coalition negotiations and withdrawal from Lebanon -- that the Palestinian issue cannot be sidelined, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat called for a "day of anger" on June 3 to protest settlements. After meeting with the Fatah Central Council on May 30 to discuss settlement policy and the Fatah Revolutionary Council on June 1 to organize the protests, Arafat called for demonstrators to meet near Rachel's tomb in Bethlehem, Israeli settlement Gush Katif in Gaza, and settlement Tel Rumeida in Hebron. The proximity of the demonstrations to Israeli military outposts suggests that Arafat's public plea to keep the demonstrations peaceful is less than sincere.
Arafat also met with Jordan's King Abdullah in the beginning of the week to try to smooth out the details of a "front-line" Arab summit (with Israel's neighbors -- Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Egypt and Lebanon) on impending negotiations with Israel. Although Abdullah declared his desire for the five countries to develop negotiating strategies and "prevent Israel from thwarting a united Arab front," it appears that this is easier said than done. Relations between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Syria have remained sour ever since the Palestinian Liberation Organization made a bilateral peace agreement with Israel in 1993. Both Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Mousa and King Abdullah are trying to coax Syria to meet with the PA, but Damascus warned on June 2nd that the countries no longer share common ground.
Meanwhile, Ehud Barak cobbles together a government, inviting in almost everyone from left-wing Meretz to the right-wing National Religious Party, but pointedly excluding the Arab parties. "Apparently Barak wants the Arab parties to sit in the opposition together with the National Union," MK Talab a-Sana'a of the Arab Democtratic Party told Ha'aretz, "or to give us the status of an illegitimate mistress to whom he can turn in an emergency when he needs our votes in the Knesset."
This week Barak promised right wing parties he would not "strangle the settlements"-- but nor would he allow new ones to be built. This rhetoric echoes that of previous governments, which claimed that all settlement expansion was merely natural growth, rather than new construction.
Nevertheless the issue of settlements poses a problem for Barak as he tries to pull in both left- and right-wing parties. In an attempt to make both happy, Barak's coalition agreement does not mention the Wye memorandum, reports Ha'aretz, although it commits coalition members to the Oslo Accords. Barak gave this report credence by publicly proposing to forgo the last two withdrawals promised in Wye and skipping to final settlement talks. Netanyahu had also proposed doing this, and although most Palestiniansagree that final status talks should start soon, doing so without the withdrawals detailed in Wye puts Palestinians in a weaker negotiating position. In final status negotiations, Barak could offer the Palestinians significant withdrawals. The international community, impressed by the compromise, might pressure the Palestinians to give up Jerusalem and allow the largest settlements to remain. In expectation of such maneuvering, Palestinian spokespeople insist that Barak implement the withdrawals agreed upon in Wye and then begin final status talks.
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From the West Bank
by Jens Brambusch
"Drink locally, think globally"-that's the slogan of the self-named "finest beer in the Middle East." For the owner of Palestinian Taybeh Beer, Nadim Khoury, this saying is more than just catchy phrasing-it's his way of life. When the Palestinian-Israeli peace process began in 1993, Khoury was living with his family in the United States. Born in the Palestinian village of Taybeh, he was first drawn to America by business school and, later, an attraction to brewing.
"When I heard of the Oslo agreements, I decided to go back to my homeland, because I am proud to be Palestinian," Khoury says. His idea was to build the first brewery in Palestine. "I wanted to do something," the 40-year-old Christian explains. "After Oslo, the Palestinian leadership called for people to build an independent economy. I answered this call."
These days Khouri finds that his own contribution to the economy-a healthy micro-brewery in the heart of the West Bank-is constantly entangled in red tape. Palestinian Authority taxes take over three-quarters of his earnings, while Israeli trade procedures keep his supplies in the port.
"Sometimes I feel like crying," he admits. Khoury faces the usual problems of Palestinians in the West Bank. "Yesterday there was no water in Taybeh, today there is no electricity," the head of the micro-brewery complains.
Recently, his phone number changed three times in a row. "I would have expected that the Palestinian phone company would inform me early enough for me to call my customers and give them my new phone number." Not only were customers unable to reach him, but every time his phone number changed Khoury had to print new business cards, beer boxes, beer mats and labels.
Besides these occasional snags, Khoury joins other Palestinian business people that complain of unwieldy taxes levied by the Palestinian Authority.
"I have to pay 77 percent of my profit in taxes to the Palestinian Authority for each beer I sell.
Companies like Amstel, which are produced in Jordan, have to pay fewer taxes," Khoury explains. That means that Taybeh, a local beer, costs more than imported beers and those made in Israel.
Since the beginning of the year, the Palestinian Authority has added a 40 percent production tax to its previous taxes -- a 12 percent Value Added Tax and a 20 percent income tax. At the same time, the Finance Ministry has refused to issue Khoury the paperwork that he needs to sell his beer inside Israel. "If we sell to Israel legally, the Palestinian Authority would lose the 17 percent Value Added Tax that is demanded from them by Israelis [who buy from us],"says Khoury.
Some industries have successfully protested the Palestinian Authority system of taxation. Palestinian cosmetics factories were only recently in an uproar over a new 20 percent tax. But as the only brewer in town, Khoury has little power to wield.
"The Palestinian Authority is going to ruin my business. They do not have any nationalism; they are just interested in money." Khoury is angry. At the moment 10 employees are working in his
brewery. Khoury would like to expand his business and hire more employees. "But the
Palestinian Authority," Khoury says, "does not know how to make business."
Khoury admits that you can still find his beer in Tel Aviv and other places in Israel, even though he hasn't been able to export legally since the beginning of the year. After arranging for an Israeli rabbi from the nearby settlement of Ofra to certify the beer as kosher, Khoury refuses to give up his Israeli market. "[The Palestinian Authority] should be proud that there is a Palestinian product, which is sold in other countries. My beer was one of the first items to be sold to Europe--even the Germans buy my beer."
Some Palestinians don't like that Khoury has cozied up to his Israeli neighbors that have settled on Palestinian land. In recent months, rumors have circulated that Khoury has been supporting the settlement by buying their hops, using the plant to flavor Taybeh Beer. Khoury adamantly denies those claims, saying that all of his ingredients are imported from abroad. "My hops," he says, "come from Bavaria and Slovakia."
But here in Palestine, politics and business go hand in hand. This week, the Israeli port authority finally released a shipment of 135,000 Taybeh beer bottles that had languished in Ashdod Port for a month.
"From the beginning, I used these same bottles made in Portugal," says Khoury. "Suddenly the Israelis say the bottles do not correspond to their standard, which is weird, because the bottles conform to the European standard." He believes that the Israeli government wants to force him to buy his bottles from an Israeli manufacturer. Now, even though the bottles have been released, Khoury must pay for the month of storage time in the Israeli port.
In the meantime, the Taybeh slogan, "Drink locally, think globally," continues to ring true. In fact, Khoury might be pleased to have a little less geo-political influence in his business day.
On the eve of the anniversary of the 1967 War between Israel and its Arab neighbors, the PALESTINE REPORT'S Nina Sovich talks to 'Atallah Abdul Majid, a Palestinian-Jordanian who fought in the Jordanian army.
What is your most vivid memory of the 1967 war?
When the war started on June 5th, I was a lieutenant in the Jordanian army stationed in Khan al-Ahmar, six km southeast of Jerusalem. I worked in a mobile unit and was responsible for gathering information and reporting to General Imam Ali Ibn Talib. When the war started, I wrote military statements and plotted both the Jordanian and Israeli positions on maps, but I wasn't directly involved in combat and few of the people I worked with were combat soldiers.
I remember the second day of the war very well. Israeli forces began air attacks on Khan al-Ahmar, dropping 50-lb and 100-lb bombs. We were told to evacuate the military camp and to retreat to Jerusalem to prevent the Israelis from entering the city. We left Khan al-Ahmar at night, but the Israelis kept bombing using 'light bombs' so they could see their targets. Every time a light bomb went off we would run and hide. It is only six km from Khan al Ahmar to Jerusalem but the trip took us 13 hours. We finally settled in Hizma on the morning of June 7th. That day Israeli soldiers arrived and we fled again. We weren't combat soldiers, you understand. We had to run and we went east.
I had two cars with me. One had military information in it; one had administrative documents from the office. I burned the car with administrative documents and took the military car to Beitin and then to Jericho. I heard that the Israelis were going to bomb the Allenby Bridge; then I received orders to cross into the East Bank. My unit was scattered at that point but over the next few days, we all made it across the Jordan.
All, that is, except for my older brother who was in my unit; he never arrived in Amman with the others. I waited for days and finally decided to cross back into the occupied West Bank to find him. I got temporary leave from the Jordanian army, and sneaked across Israeli checkpoints into the West Bank. I headed for Ramallah and met many Israeli soldiers along the way. They questioned me, harassed me, but I convinced them I was a civilian and they let me pass.
The trip itself was terrible. The Israelis purposefully left bodies on either side of the road to frighten the Palestinians, to drive fear deep into our hearts. I turned over all the bodies that wore Jordanian uniforms, thinking one might be my brother. checked at Beit El hospital but he wasn't there; I visited my family in Ramallah and he wasn't there and then I went back to Jordan. This deeply affected me. It still affects me. Everyone in my unit came back to Jordan, but not my brother.
What had happened to your brother?
After a year, the Jordanian army declared him a martyr. The Israelis say they don't know where his body is, but I think he is alive. I just have this feeling. I have heard that Israel still has Jordanian soldiers in prisons and they won't let them out because they are so emotionally or physically scarred that Israel is afraid. You know, every Jordanian soldier has an identity bracelet with his name and serial number on it and the Israelis reported all the bracelets they had and all the bodies they buried. But they never mentioned my brother--so who has him?
How did you feel and what did you do when you found out that Jordan had lost the war?
The first thing I thought was that I must get back to Palestine. I wanted to go back to my country even though it was occupied. It took some time though.
I served in the army until Black September and then the government threw me in jail. [Ed.'s note: Black September occurred in 1970 when Jordan's King Hussein routed Palestinian fighters based in Jordan. As many as 2,000 Palestinians died in the clashes.]
They let me out of prison but they demoted me from active to reserve duty. I was still in the reserves when I heard my request for family reunification had been granted and I could go back to Palestine. I don't want to go into details, and I don't want to mention names, but the head of security in Jordan pulled me into his office and gave me an ultimatum. He told me I could either return to Palestine or I could keep my Jordanian citizenship. I could not do both. I decided to leave. I had wanted to go back to Palestine for six years, so I gave up my passport and went.
How would you compare living under Jordanian administration as opposed to Israeli occupation?
If you ask me what I prefer, I prefer to live under Jordanian rule. But life under Jordanian rule was hard. The daily things were so difficult, and life is much easier now in terms of transportation and economic prosperity. But I would still prefer to live under the Jordanians. Living under the Israelis, my soul is torn.
What do you think of the Palestinian Authority? Have they met your expectations for self-rule?
You know, every living being has to take small steps and fall before it walks. I am optimistic that the PA will improve its performance, especially after new leadership comes into power. The real point here is that we finally have our own government; we have our own ID cards and soon the international community will recognize Palestine. We had nothing before. The PA has its problems and it is present in all of Palestine, but it is here and this is important. I am sure the PA will grow up soon. I am confident of it. They are in a weaker bargaining position than the Israelis are and that is very hard for them, but you know the Palestinians have had so many catastrophes and they have always come out stronger. From 1948 to 1967 to Black September we always emerged.
Do you think that Palestine should enter a confederation with Jordan?
Well, in the Palestinian's current situation a confederation is not an option nor should it be--at least until we are stronger. I think any union with a state that has greater rights and duties would harm the Palestinians. I also think that a confederation should only take place between two states that respect each other. So no, I don't think Palestine should enter a confederation with Jordan.
On the anniversary of the 1967 War, what immediately comes to mind?
I remember that right after the war we wanted so badly to get back to Palestine. I was stationed on the border with Israel and we were supposed to shoot down any enemy planes that crossed into Jordan. The government offered the unit a 1000 JD bonus for every plane we shot down. After a while we started living very well. We bought sheep and had big feasts. One day we bought a lamb that was so weak we didn't have the heart to kill it, so we kept it as our camp pet. This lamb was very intelligent. It got so used to us running to battle stations when the planes approached, it could tell they were coming before us. After a while, the lamb would start bleating and we would know the Israelis were on their way. I remember this--and other things--but [at least] this is a nice memory.