High Hopes for Peace Smashed – 

Tel Aviv Journalist Returns From Dialogue with Arabs……Peace? From the Palestinian Standpoint, There is a Past, No Future

 by Lital Shemesh May 5, 2013

Previously, I  had  expressed to you my personal journey from hope  and optimism to disillusionment and pessimism concerning the ability to work with the Palestinians on establishing the foundations for a 2 state solution

Earlier this week, I sent you  the remarks  made on Lebanese TV by Jibril Rajoub, Deputy Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee . "I swear that if we had a nuke, we'd have used it this very morning," said  Rajoub. Rajoub explained that the Palestinian Authority only continues to play this "negotiating game" with Israel because it currently lacks the military strength to defeat the Jewish state.

 As I reported to Ambassador James Dobbins ( President Obama's noninee as his  special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistanan {and advisor on Iranian negotiations} Jibril Rajoub was, for several years, one of my prime contacts.  I and many others who interacted with him publicly reported that he “a  moderate”. But he was always ruthless. While I have seen many such statements as this one from the Islamic world, I take Rajoub seriously and am most alarmed.

 I urge you to read the article by Lital Shemesh .  In her first video blog in English two years ago, she says, “I really want… a peaceful quiet country to live in, and I really want peace to come.” She recently participated in a seminar with other young Israelis and Arabs in hopes of igniting optimism for peace. She returned from the seminar disappointed and disillusioned with the Palestinians.   Her article explains  why, on the basis of her first-hand face-to-face experience,  she is now disappointed and disillusioned.

High Hopes for Peace Smashed – 

Tel Aviv Journalist Returns From Dialogue with Arabs……Peace? From the Palestinian Standpoint, There is a Past, No Future

 by Lital Shemesh May 5, 2013

I participated in the Dialogue for Peace Project for young Israelis and Palestinians who are politically involved in various frameworks. The project’s objective was to identify tomorrow’s leaders and bring them closer today, with the aim of bringing peace at some future time.

The project involved meetings every few weeks and a concluding seminar in Turkey.

On the third day of the seminar after we had become acquainted, had removed barriers, and split helpings of rachat Lukum [a halva-like almond Arab delicacy] as though there was never a partition wall between us, we began to touch upon many subjects which were painful for both sides. The Palestinians spoke of roadblocks and the IDF soldiers in the territories, while the Israeli side spoke of constant fear, murderous terrorist attacks, and rockets from Gaza.

The Israeli side, which included representatives from right and left, tried to understand the Palestinians’ vision of the end of the strife– “Let’s talk business.” The Israelis delved to understand how we can end the age-old, painful conflict. What red lines are they willing to be flexible on? What resolution will satisfy their aspirations? Where do they envision the future borders of the Palestinian State which they so crave?

We were shocked to discover that not a single one of them spoke of a Palestinian State, or to be more precise, of a two-state solution.

They spoke of one state – their state. They spoke of ruling Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Akko, Haifa, and the pain of the Nakba [lit. the tragedy – the establishment of the State of Israel]. There was no future for them. Only the past. “There is no legitimacy for Jews to live next to us” – this was their main message. “Firs t, let them pay for what they perpetrated.”

In the course of a dialogue which escalated to shouts, the Palestinians asked us not to refer to suicide bombers as “terrorists” because they don’t consider them so. “So how do you call someone who dons a vest and blows himself up in a Tel Aviv shopping mall with the stated purpose of killing innocent civilians,” I asked one of the participants.

“I have a 4-year-old at home,” answered Samach from Abu Dis (near Jerusalem). “If G-d forbid something should happen to him, I will go and burn an entire Israeli city, if I can.” All the other Palestinian participants nodded their heads in agreement to his harsh words.

“Three weeks ago, we gave birth to a son,” answered Amichai, a religious, Jewish student from Jerusalem. “If G-d forbid something should happen to him, I would find no comfort whatsoever in deaths of more people.”

Israelis from the full gamut of political parties participated in the seminar: Likud, Labor, Kadima, Meretz, and Hadash (combined Jewish/Arab socialist party). All of them reached the understanding that the beautiful scenarios of Israeli-Palestinian peace that they had formulated for themselves simply don’t correspond with reality. It’s just that most Israelis don’t have the opportunity to sit and really converse with Palestinians, to hear what they really think.

Our feed of information comes from Abu Mazen’s declarations to the international press, which he consistently contradicts when he is interviewed by Al Jazeera, where he paints a completely different picture.

I arrived at the seminar with high hopes, and I return home with difficult feelings and despair. Something about the narrative of the two sides is different from the core. How can we return to the negotiating table when the Israeli side speaks of two states and the Palestinian side speaks of liberating Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea? How can peace ever take root in a platform which grants legitimacy to terrorism?

Translated by Baruch Gordon

Lital Shemesh is a 29-year-old successful, female, Israeli journalist.  A rising star in the Israeli media ,she openly expresses her political aspirations to reach the Knesset. She worked as Editor-in-Chief for the Yedioth Youth Magazines, reported for the Israel Broadcasting Authority and the Hot CableTV News channel, and is CEO and Founder of a web-based girls magazine “Pinkish – Everything that Girls Love.

Lital Shemesh as Editor of Israeli's largest youth magazine

In her first video blog in English two years ago, she says, “I really want… a peaceful quiet country to live in, and I really want peace to come.” 

Her summary of her experience  and disappointment with the Palestinains  at the peace seminar will help readers better understand  the basic underpinnings of even the “moderate” “pro-peace” Palestinians.