peace process

U.S. President Barack Obama has a higher approval rating among Israelis than is widely believed, undercutting arguments he has lost Israeli public support for new peace efforts, a poll said on Thursday.

The poll by the Washington-based New America Foundation found that 41 percent of Israelis had a favorable rating of Obama against 37 percent who rated him unfavorably.

Despite this, 55 percent of Israelis polled said they thought Obama did not support Israel against 42 percent who said he did - a reflection of the "complexity of views" about the U.S. leader as he presses both Israel and the Palestinians to resume stalled peace talks.

"They genuinely admire and like him ... but at the same time they also want to feel that he is in their corner, and they have concerns over this," pollster Jim Gerstein said in an email message.

 

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In my previous blog post, I looked at the last days of Apartheid South Africa, and the eerie parallels between the attitudes of White South Africans at the time, and the apparent mindset of much of Israel today. In both cases, there was/is the widespread belief that (a) we can stand alone against the world, because of a whole range of strategic and other factors, and (b) we can hold out/carry on this way indefinitely, for generations or centuries to come in need.

Despite the bravado, South Africa was eventually forced into a negotiated settlement with the ANC. Similarly, I believe that unless Israel uses the current opportunity to grab the best deal she can, she will eventually be forced to accept something far less favourable than what can be had today. Writer Uzi Silber took issue with the concept of a negotiated settlement, due to the absence of a credible partner for peace on the Palestinian side. I have no argument with that; a Holocaust-denier turned “moderate” would not be my choice of negotiating partner either. If not negotiation, then what?

In broad brushstrokes, this is my analysis:

For now, Israel is still largely in charge of her own destiny, not Abbas or Obama. Israel can take the initiative to move the so-called peace process along, and the other players will follow.

 

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What does this have to do with a blog on Israel and Jewish affairs? Having lived through the fall of Apartheid and the all-too brief honeymoon period that followed, I find a number of eerie parallels between attitudes and beliefs held by White South Africans at the time, and Israel’s growing isolation and withdrawal today. (What I am not doing, though, is to compare the Apartheid system of Separate Development with the situation in Israel. Such a comparison is inaccurate and unjust and gives ammunition to those who simply wish to demonise Israel.)

In January 1978 – along with tens of thousands of other school-leavers, graduates of our Christian National Education system – I began my National Service with the SA Defence Force. I was not politically mature (or even aware), and believed that we were doing our part to save Southern Africa from what had befallen the rest of Africa: domination by the militant Black nationalism and Communism that had led to the ruination of the continent; the Total Onslaught.

We believed that the struggle would continue for decades, perhaps even centuries to come. Our children and grandchildren would be called on do their duty to save "Volk en Vaderland" (we used those words) from the savagery of raw Africa. Little more than a decade later, Mandela had been released from prison, the CODESA talks had begun and democratic elections were on the horizon.

Its worth repeating because it is to fundamental to understanding the policy recommendations of so many radical leftists – be they academics, journalists, politicians or politicians-in-waiting in uniform:  the true believers among them hold as an article of faith that a full Israeli withdrawal to the ’67 lines would herald utopian peace.

This is not subject to discussion.

It is not subject to analysis.

It is an article of faith.

What causes otherwise intelligent people to make such a leap of faith?

Yossi Beilin once explained his views to a reporter by noting that he couldn’t see living in a world in which peace couldn’t be reached with the Arabs.

There are religions with all kinds of beliefs that appear bizarre to those not sharing the faith.  This faith in withdrawal is no different.

So what’s the big deal about a “withdraw-to-the-’67-line-brings-utopian-peace” religious belief?

If withdrawal believers just went around proclaiming their faith or even trying to share it like a missionary then the concept would find its place in public discourse.  A place of ridicule among the overwhelming majority of Israelis.  But a place nonetheless.