Considering what is at stake in solving the crisis in the Middle East, 364 days is a very short time in which to force through a peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis; an agreement that would yield a lasting peace and bring about the creation of a Palestinian state.

Even for the president of the United States, and even given the optimism displayed by Bush, it seems rather a tall order to fill in just under a year when one takes into account all the precedents associated with the Middle East conflict.

Before peace between Palestinians and Israelis can become a reality, there are many issues that need to be solved. However, not unlike the tasks assigned to Hercules, with every task solved, more challenging ones arise.

Bush's objective, to solve longstanding disputes in the Middle East within the next 364 days, is indeed nothing short of a Herculean task. Besides the three monumental tasks facing the president -- first, where to draw the final borders between the future Palestinian state and the state of Israel; second, how to settle the future of Jerusalem as the capital city of both the Jewish and Palestinian states; and third, the issue of the right of return of Palestinian refugees -- there is yet one more formidable task that needs to be overcome. And that is to reconcile the two main Palestinian factions -- Fatah and Hamas -- among themselves for the simple reason that Israel will not negotiate future borders until the question of who controls the security in Gaza is settled.

Nor will the Palestinians agree to continue negotiating with the Israelis as long as settlements continue to expand, as is the case with Har Homa in East Jerusalem.

But those are just two examples of the complexity surrounding the situation. In fact, it seems as though the Palestinian-Israeli dispute is entering into a new phase of intransigence with both sides retrenching, and quite possibly rearming, in preparation for the next wave of violence that, by the way, has already started in Gaza.

At least 39 Palestinians, including six civilians, were killed last week by Israeli gunfire, according to figures provided by hospitals in the Gaza strip.

The upsurge of violence that erupted over the weekend in the Gaza Strip between Hamas militants and the Israeli military plays right into the hands of those who wants to see peace efforts fail.

Hamas, and the smaller but perhaps more radical Palestinian Islamic Jihad, are funded and equipped to a large part by Iran. Hamas, for one, does not accept the concept of Israel as the home of the Jewish nation. In several interviews to this reporter, Hamas high officials have reiterated their willingness to a cease-fire with Israel, even an extended cease-fire "that could last up to 100 years," but refuse to recognize the state of Israel. Hamas' policy -- at least so far -- has been to never accept the notion of Israel as a viable nation in the Middle East. And just to make sure the point is not missed, Hamas has been launching dozens of homemade Qassam rockets and mortars on Israeli towns and cities, with the primary target being the city of Sderot, the closest Israeli town to the Gaza Strip.

Among the casualties in last week's Israeli raid on Gaza was the son of Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas' leader in the Gaza strip. The death of Zahar's son, his second son to die violently, helped thaw some of the ice between Fatah and Hamas, who have been at odds since Hamas' coup in June of last year, when the Islamist movement threw out Fatah militants from Gaza, taking over control of the strip of land on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

Justifying its actions, an Israeli army representative said Israel had only attacked a Hamas headquarters and avoided targeting civilians. And Israel said it would continue to attack Gaza so long as the violence continues.

Late last week Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced Israel would seal off all crossings in and out of Gaza, thus isolating the desolate strip and the nearly 1.5 million people living there.

Almost everything that Gaza consumes comes from outside, making the population of the strip entirely dependent on imports for the most basic of supplies. If Bush can somehow navigate through all these obstacles and achieve peace within the next 364 days, he would have accomplished tasks of truly Herculean proportions.

(Claude Salhani is Editor of the Middle East Times.)

(e-mail: [email protected])

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links