Two states, one peace

By OFER BAVLY, Special to the Times
Published November 27, 2007

This week, Palestinians and Israelis will be re-launching the peace process at Annapolis after a seven-year hiatus brought about by a vicious campaign of terror launched against Israeli citizens by Yasser Arafat, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement. More than a thousand Israelis lost their lives to suicide bombers, and yet we remain resolved to doing everything in our power to reach peace with our neighbors. Peace for Israel is not a means to an end - it is a strategic objective.

At Annapolis, Israel's prime minister will reiterate our core beliefs. We see the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as residing in a two-state formula: a democratic Israel, home to the Jewish people, and a future Palestine, home to the Palestinian people wherever they may be today. President John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural address, said: "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate." That statement holds true for us, nearly 50 years later. We do not come to negotiate out of fear of violence. We come to negotiate, secure in our knowledge that we are doing what is right for the next generations.

Ultimately, a peaceful solution will have to go through the 2003 international community's "road map." The first phase calls for the Palestinians to halt their terror attacks on Israelis. Not only have they not fulfilled this obligation, but since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in June 2007, more than 850 mortar bombs and missiles have been launched from Gaza against Israeli towns and villages, an average of almost seven a day. Halting those attacks is a Palestinian responsibility, as is an effective fight against terror groups in the Palestinian camp. Israel, on its part, is ready to implement its own obligations under the road map, effective immediately.

But the United States, the Palestinians and Israel will not be alone at Annapolis. Also present around the table will be some Arab countries. Their presence is crucial, for the meeting at Annapolis needs to send a message to the peoples of the Middle East, a message of support for peace. Moderate Arab regimes will be reassuring the Palestinians that the path of negotiation with Israel is preferable to violence. They will also be signaling to Israelis that normalization of relations with the Arab world will be a part of the peace process with the Palestinians.

At the end of the day, only time will tell whether the Annapolis meeting was a success or a failure. As a launching point for renewed dialogue, it is a new beginning rather than the culmination of recent contacts between our leaders. The real test will be during the coming months, as our negotiating teams meet for intensive talks on all outstanding issues. Last week, Israel decided to release 450 Palestinian prisoners. We undertook to freeze settlement activity and to remove illegal outposts. But for this process to succeed, the Palestinians need, once and for all, to implement their part of the road map by effectively combating terrorism.

Palestinian terrorism against Israelis is incompatible with a viable peace process and with Palestinians' aspirations of statehood. If they understand that the path to peace goes through renouncing violence, we will reach peace. But if they continue on the path of terror and hatred, then the Annapolis meeting will join previous venues as a burial ground for peace initiatives, long ago discarded into the dustbin of history.

Ofer Bavly is the consul general of Israel to Florida and Puerto Rico.

[Last modified November 26, 2007, 21:36:45]