Hadas Ziv – Haaretz (English) – May 15
It's said that while the Oslo Accords were being negotiated, the two sides devoted more time to whether the Palestinian Authority would be allowed to issue its own stamps than to questions of human rights. Herein lies the failure of the agreements and the process itself - a failure that occurred even though the promise of a different future had won broad public support on both sides. But Israeli and Palestinian leaders were motivated by layers of goals other than that of improving the lives of their people. Israel was almost single-minded about getting out of the West Bank's major cities - focusing entirely on the creation of Areas A, B and C, which still exist today. And Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had his own standing in Palestinian politics to worry about.
Perhaps these concerns were valid, even urgent, but without making human rights a top priority and taking immediate steps in the process to improve people's lives by safeguarding rights, a peace plan will fall apart as soon as it begins. In the end, people and their leaders determine whether peace is sustainable. If people on either side don't see a tangible improvement in their lives, something that can only happen by addressing human rights, they have the power to unravel even the best diplomatic foray.
For a moment, in the 1990s, both Israelis and Palestinians believed in the possibility of a different future. Oslo's failure should reverberate in the minds of both U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they prepare to meet next week, so they remember that any solution must clearly change people's everyday lives -- among both Palestinians and Israelis. The only way to accomplish this is by reserving a place for human rights at the negotiating table from the start of the process. The sides must be ready to address the always-changing situation on the ground as they tackle the details of a better future. It is incumbent on them to deal with the worst violations first, not last.
Human rights aren't merely a sideshow or afterthought -- the principles and practices of respecting human rights on both sides are prerequisites to a just and secure peace agreement. People see the conflict as a defining reality in their lives. In the same way, they must experience the solution in the most tangible ways. Imagine how that would look: Palestinians would get proper treatment at medical facilities without being humiliated and extorted at checkpoints, farmers would have access to their land, students would get to their studies, and the Palestinian economy would not face unemployment of around 60 percent.
Most important, Palestinians would be able to define their own future. Israelis would finally live without an existential crisis informing their every deed. We would have the right to freedom of thought, to imagine an alternative to "the situation," something other than an existence controlled by fears and threats. And of course, we would be more secure physically. This image of lasting peace is at least as important as a framed photo of our leaders shaking hands.
Perhaps it is the comfortably sterile separation between human rights and diplomacy that allows for the construction of Israeli settlements and other irreversible and counterproductive projects. This divide places all the emphasis on what is said - in Washington, Jerusalem and Ramallah. But when we dream about peace, aren't we dreaming about something concrete - about actions, not just words? These actions - which one by one can improve the lives of Palestinians and Israelis - must begin with the signing of the first documents.
If we Israelis seek a chance for peace with our Palestinian neighbors, we must acknowledge the central role of human rights in such an agreement. When the U.S. president asks Netanyahu whether he favors two states for two peoples, he should also ask what he considers the first steps in reaching that dream. No less important, he should ask whether people's lives will improve, whether human rights will be upheld more consistently, and if so, when and how. We all know that peace will not be reached by waving a magic wand or signing a magic document. It will be reached when all our shared interests - livelihoods, equality and mutual respect - are there in front of us and not a forgotten hope lost beyond another horizon.
Hadas Ziv is the director of Physicians for Human Rights - Israel.
No comments:
Post a Comment