New thrust for peace in Middle East

---

Syed Fattahul Alim
Is there after all a glimmer of hope about peace in Palestine and the prospect for a Palestinian state? The question of prospect or hope arises here because this is the first time in history that government delegates from Arab countries like Jordan and Egypt paid visit to Israel under the auspices of the Arab League. True, Egypt and Jordan do have diplomatic relations with Israel. So, the visit by a Jordanian or an Egyptian foreign minister to Jerusalem taken in isolation bears no special significance. But if these visits by high profile representatives from Arab governments are supported by the 22-nation Arab League then it must be something significant in the history of Palestinian-Israeli or Arab-Israeli conflict, for that matter. Western heavyweights like Middle-East peace envoy, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, visited Jerusalem last week, while US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are scheduled to arrive here in the coming week.
But there is catch. Considering the present circumstances, this may not look like the appropriate time for a fresh move to start Israeli-Arab peace talks. The Palestine, the main stakeholder in any Arab-Israeli peace initiative, is now passing through the worst crisis since the creation of Israel as its leadership is divided (as it were between two separate states at Gaza and the West Bank) and are at each other's throat. As a result, Israel is on the upper hand to dictate any new deal in the Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative, though it got a bleeding nose at the hands of the Hezbollah during Lebanon war. Islamic militants have grown in strength in the Arab world including Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt, so much so that they can torpedo any peace talks that bypass them. Who is then pushing this peace drive at this inopportune moment?
The moderate Arab countries are witnessing the spectre of rising Islamic militancy in their own home. There is, therefore, no more time to sit on the fence and watch the bleeding of Palestine to death, for that will spell their own doom. The West, especially, America, is bogged down helplessly in Iraq. Small wonder, they are now all warming to the Israeli-Palestinian problem, for it is the main knot to be untied before starting any Middle East peace talks.
Notwithstanding such good intentions on the part of America and the moderate Arab countries, the western perspective of the Middle East's crisis has not gone through any basic change. It is thinks that Palestine is the rogue, while Israel is the victim. But the real picture is quite to the contrary. So, the perspective must change to make any meaningful approach to the crisis.
Still, the silver lining is that the need for peace is being seriously felt by all the stakeholders in the fray. The rest of the world will wait with fingers crossed fingers and watch the new Middle Eastern peace initiative evolves. Ilene R. Prusher of Christian Science Monitor has tried to explain hereunder how the latest move for Palestinian-Israeli move is faring.
'Israeli officials celebrated the arrival Wednesday of the Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers, here to discuss a peace plan supported by the Arab League, as a historic day marking the first time countries representing the group of 22 Arab nations have visited the Jewish state.
For Israel, this reads as a significant step toward reconciliation, particularly as it comes between two heavyweight diplomatic missions focused on laying the groundwork for Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
Tony Blair, the British ex-prime minister, was here this week on his maiden voyage as Middle East peace envoy for the group known as the Quartet. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to arrive next week.
All of this comes as a deepening crisis in Iraq appears to be encouraging President Bush, Mr. Blair, and Arab leaders to reinvest in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And with Israeli leaders and Palestinians in the West Bank now talking, some analysts say the conflict here no longer looks like the most intractable part of the Middle East.
But to some of Israel's Arab neighbours, talk of the trip by its Jordanian and Egyptian representatives as a major milestone toward reconciliation oversteps the on-the-ground realities that leave Israelis and Palestinians far from peace.
Indeed, there are as many obstacles as there are approaches to overcome them.
A proposal for a comprehensive Israeli-Arab peace deal - called the Arab Initiative or Saudi Initiative, as it was proposed in its original form by the Saudi crown prince more than five years ago - was backed by members of the Arab League in June, after the Hamas ouster of the secular Fatah movement in Gaza.
It suggests reaching a land-for-peace accord under more or less predictable lines: Israel would withdraw from much of the West Bank and East Jerusalem to pave the way for a Palestinian state, and would, in return, receive recognition from the Arab League.
The plan also calls for Israel to agree to the "right of return" of Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel proper. Israelis say that's a non-starter because it would lead to the destruction of the Jewish state, while Arabs say there can be no peace without solving the refugee problem.
Such gaps aside, both Israeli and Arab leaders have shown renewed interest in getting back to talking. Regional leaders, viewing the ascendancy of Islamic militant groups such as Hamas and Hizbullah with some trepidation, see this as an opportune moment to show that peace can produce results, and comes with benefits like foreign investment and social stability.
Hamas's surprise ability to seize Gaza raises concerns in Egypt and Jordan that their own branches of the Muslim Brotherhood may be emboldened by the Islamic militants.
"Of course the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan have visited before, but this is the first time that they're coming here under the auspices of a working group of the Arab League. This is historic," says Mark Regev, the spokesman of the Israel foreign ministry. "The challenge is to take that initiative, which is a piece of paper, and transform into something that will forward the peace process."
Mr. Regev says Israel had hoped for even more countries to participate in the delegation, as a gesture of seriousness about peace. Already, he says, Israel talks with about half of the members of the Arab League, although many of these contacts are unofficial.
"Israel would like the process of dialogue with the Arab world to be accelerated," he says. "Now, the current thinking is that the Arab states have to be more involved. Ultimately, we would argue that pragmatic, moderate Arab governments have an obligation to support pragmatic, moderate Palestinians," Regev says, referring to the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.
But what Israel would view as engagement, many Arab countries deem normalization, still a kind of social taboo. For any senior Arab official whose nation doesn't have diplomatic relations with Israel - and only Egypt, Jordan, and Mauritania do - a visit is seen as a premature step toward thawing what's largely been a decades-long cold war.
To make this point, the Jordanian and Egyptian leaders said Wednesday that they were representing their own countries, not the Arab League as a whole.
The difference may seem like hair-splitting. But to regional players, the way the arrival of a delegation of Arab leaders to Israel is portrayed is a matter of great importance.
"The main card the Arab countries have to offer is normalization, and by participating in a delegation to Israel, they're giving their trump card away, and so they're not going to do that without getting anything in return," says Mouin Rabbani, senior Middle East analyst with the International Crisis Group in Amman, Jordan.
Mr. Rabbani says that there were initial reports that the delegation would include officials from countries that don't have relations with Israel. "Many Arab states didn't feel that it was appropriate to give Israel what would be seen as a diplomatic victory," Rabbani says.
On the eve of the arrival of Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdelelah al-Khatib and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Israeli and Palestinian news agencies reported that Saudi Arabia was withdrawing support from the mission. There was no shortage of speculation over why, including fears that a delegation visit seen too favourable to Israel could upset Al Qaeda elements in the Saudi kingdom.
"There is a potentially embarrassing situation where senior Arab diplomats are meeting with Israel officials, but don't meet with Hamas," Rabbani adds.
Mustapha Barghouthi, a Palestinian Legislative Council member, says "The Saudis are upset because they want the Palestinian internal dialogue [between Hamas and Fatah] to be reinstated. Eventually, we have to talk to each other."
But from Israel's perspective, that split is the key reason why the window of opportunity is now wide open.
Food as bridge for amity
Joshua Mitnick of csmonitor discovers the strength of a delicacy to create bond between communities at daggers drawn. l Ice cream? Mohammed, the chef at the al-Naji restaurant, located in Abu Gosh, refers to his gooey plate of hummus as 'ice cream,' and claims his hummus recipe is a professional secret.
Every weekend, Abu Gosh, a quiet Israeli- Arab village in the Jerusalem hills becomes snarled with the traffic of hungry Israeli day-trippers.
They come here in search of hummus, and hustlers from rival restaurants ambush motorists with directions to famous eateries. Describing Abu Gosh as a "good hummus pit stop," Rami Dourant explains why he visits the village even though he can eat the chickpea dish in any Jewish city in Israel.
"We need to stick with the Arab tradition," says the Jewish organizational psychologist as he left Abu Gosh's Haji restaurant. "Jews sometimes come up with gimmicks for hummus that don't work."
While foreigners know it as a dainty Mediterranean dip found in boutique delis, hummus for Israelis and Palestinians is a savoury sustenance devoured by the vat everywhere from dusty refugee camps in the West Bank to yuppie hot spots in Tel Aviv. Both staple and delicacy, it's a culinary icon that's a prism of the complex nexus between two neighbouring peoples in constant strife.
Critics consider Israeli interpretations of hummus as merely by-products of decades of Israeli expropriation of Palestinian land. But some see the spread as a glimmer of hope for reconciliation despite grim political prospects for peace.
Among Palestinians, the food is eaten for breakfast. Israelis who got hooked on hummus as a snack and appetizer elevated it to become a national food symbol and now boast more than twice as much hummus consumption as their Arab neighbours, according to Tsabar Salads, Israel's leading hummus manufacturer.
Hummus has made Abu Gosh perhaps one of the most heavily visited Arab villages in Israel, but it wasn't until the 1990s that a hummus restaurant in the village named Abu Shukri became legendary among Israelis.