After the Ceasefire: Talking, not Fighting
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
It’s too early for recriminations, though what’s left of the election campaign here suggests that they’re on the way. But the soul-searching has already begun. Though there’s general agreement that the Gaza war exorcised some of the ghosts of the second Lebanon war and that Hamas suffered serious damage, nobody I hear seems to be certain as to what has really been achieved. And, most decidedly, nobody feels like celebrating.Even if the rockets stop falling over Sderot, Ashkelon and all the other places for a while, it’s assumed that they’ll start again - sooner rather than later. Reservists interviewed on their way home told reporters, “We’ll be back soon, no doubt.” They know better than most that things haven’t really changed, and I doubt that they mean that Israel hasn’t inflicted enough damage in Gaza.
David Grossman did a bit of soul-searching in yesterday’s Ha’aretz. The only answer I could glean from his article is that the way forward is to talk to the enemy. As things now stand, the two sides couldn’t even agree to talk to each other about the ceasefire. That’s why there were two declarations. It was, literally, a charade in which the contestants exchanged gestures – and rude ones at that – that Egypt interpreted and transmitted, with the help of the United States, the European Union and others.
Grossman has reminded us, if indeed we needed to be reminded, that nothing good comes from belligerence: “We must speak to the Palestinians: That is the most important conclusion from the most recent round of bloodshed. We must speak also to those who do not recognize our right to exist here.”
So far, the received wisdom has been that good people like us don’t talk to terrorists. Israelis and Palestinians who have engaged in peace talks couldn’t deliver: Olmert, Israel’s outgoing lame-duck prime minister, and Abu Mazen, who (I heard it said) is only in charge of the parking lot outside his headquarters in Ramallah. They spoke to impress their constituents but there’s nothing to suggest that they could turn words into deeds. The abortive Oslo accords cast a long shadow on them.
But talking is in fashion again. Barack Obama seems to have not only the gift of speech but also faith in its power. Yesterday’s inaugural address in Washington made that clear. He even embellished history when he referred to talking to fascists and communists in the past. He says he wants to talk to everybody and seems to believe that words can achieve more than missiles. David Grossman is obviously one of his disciples.
So should we be. For this latest of Israel’s many wars has shown once again that armed combat doesn’t settle conflicts but only deepens them, even though there’ll always be situations that make fighting inevitable, its ugliness and horror notwithstanding.
I still speculate about Israel’s next government as a centrist coalition ready to talk, but latest polls show that the party led by belligerent Avigdor Lieberman (with minimal military experience) will do as well, or better, than the party of the moderate Ehud Barak’s (who has proven himself once again to be a great general).
Though politicians who advocate talking rather than fighting aren’t likely to sit around the next cabinet table, I’m still inclined to vote for them on February 10. Even if their detractors say that this isn’t the time for high-minded liberals and pink peaceniks, their voices must be heard as loud as possible. Their day will yet come, let’s hope soon.
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