What to Do With Palestine and Israel
During a meeting with New York Times journalists, Donald Trump emphasized his desire to seek a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested that his son-in-law Jared Kushner could assist in brokering a deal. That same week, Trump appointed Stephen Bannon—a supporter for the alt-right movement with a history of anti-Semitism—as the senior counselor of his Presidency. His stance on Israel has swayed between firm declarations of “neutrality” and moments of “pro-Israel” sympathy. Though the comical image of “Trump: The Negotiator” reassures a number of American Jews, a closer look at the current tensions in the Middle East reveals a much less cheerful picture—one that requires a gradual solution.
Extremist groups on both the Israeli and Palestinian side have hampered the two governments from creating credible and lasting agreements. In 1993, Shimon Peres of Israel and Yasser Arafat of Palestine cheerfully masqueraded from Norway with Nobel Peace Prizes after finally constructing and signing the Oslo Peace Accords. Leaders around the world, including then President Bill Clinton, applauded the peace treaty, which called for the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the Gaza strip and the establishment of an interim Palestinian government.
These lofty goals quickly disintegrated. Just a few weeks after the summit, Yasser Arafat ordered his Palestinians to declare jihad and reclaim Jerusalem. In 1995, a Jewish zealot murdered prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, and the following year, a suicide bombing left thirteen people dead in a Tel Aviv Purim celebration. Only then did the Israeli government realize that Arafat wore two faces: a flirtatious one that he used to receive concessions from world leaders, and an aggressive one that he used to spark terror and satisfy his hatred towards Jews.
Bill Clinton’s smile and firm handshakes appeared promising on camera, but they concealed his reactive, rather than proactive, approach to Middle Eastern peace. Lacking any concrete long-term goals or plausible enforcement mechanisms, the Oslo Accords caused frustration and propagated a sense of mistrust on both sides. By the end of his administration, the prospect of a settlement was more distant than ever.
I would be naïve, however, to suggest that harsher legal frameworks alone would have bettered the implementation of the Oslo Accords. Both governments depend on an intense narrative of suffering and persecution to further their own political legitimacy. Yasser Arafat himself admitted that, “It’s always convenient for certain people to heap accusations on Israel,” and, to make matters worse, confessed that his vision of peace involves the destruction of the Jewish state. Even before an al-Qaeda linked terrorist group professed to starting fires in Haifa, Israeli newspapers proclaimed the Palestinian government as the perpetrator in the arson. This paranoia prevents productive dialogue and gives both sides reason to question the other’s intentions.
Trump should not follow in the footsteps of Obama, who never hesitated to endanger Israel’s security in an effort to flatter hawkish Middle Eastern states like Iran. He must, unlike Obama, give Israel the benefit of doubt and recognize its vulnerability in the face of hostile Muslim neighbors and terrorists. Benjamin Netanyahu once said that, “The Palestinians want a state, but they have to give peace in return.” Believe it or not, most Israelis want to let go of the incessantly irritated Palestinians, but they can’t help but imagine a worst-case scenario: a combative Palestinian state governed by a terrorist group with ties to Iran’s nuclear program.
Nor should Trump—as Reagan did in 1987—ask the Israeli and Palestinian governments to “tear down this wall” and call for an easing of tensions. The Jews and Arabs will never be friends and would prefer an equitable divorce to a catastrophic marriage. Trump must pressure Palestine into developing a government free of corruption and unaffiliated with rogue terrorist groups like Hamas and Fatah and emphasize demilitarization as a prerequisite to the evacuation of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The Oslo Accords admonished the international community from seeking agreements not grounded on respect. Now is the time for Trump to abandon his rash personality and begin a thoughtful campaign for Middle Eastern peace.