Biography

ON THE PATH TO A MEANINGFUL
AND MUTUALLY SATISFACTORY ACCOMMODATION

At this very early stage of looking for a solution, and assuming that the world is anxious to solve the Palestine Question, and not to dissolve it to make it go away, we must first start by looking for a “mutually satisfactory accommodation”, before talking about peace. It is still too early for that. The requisite conditions for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians do not exist yet, and the two people are way too far apart and too different from each other: One is rather a European-like population, and the other a typical Middle-Eastern society. If they both like to eat hummus (chickpeas), it does not automatically mean that they can share beds!

Those on the Arab side who speak about a one-state solution hoping to overtake the Jews through demographics are daydreamers, as are those on the Jewish side who think the Palestinians can be castrated and tamed in a one-state solution and turned into cheap labour and housemaids.

It is sad to say, but there are also some Arabs and Palestinians who dream of “throwing the Jews into the sea”, and there are Jews who dream of a final solution (Entlösung) to the whole problem by deporting the Palestinians en masse to neighbouring countries. The Arabs cannot do that. However, Israel can, and nobody will do anything about it. The only reactions that could be predictable are those of the U.N. Security Council, which will meet in an emergency session and disband as a result of a veto. Then the reaction of the delegates to the Council of the Arab League, who will shout, scream and jump up and down in disgust, then organize a number of dinners, and finally issue all kinds of ‘requests’ and ‘demands’. While the occasion presents itself, somebody in one Arab capital or another may hold a major Arab poetry contest to mark the event! However the end result as far as the Palestinians are concerned will be the total loss of their homeland; and the refugee camps in Beirut, Amman and others will become home to another two million Palestinian refugees. Is that what we want? Certainly not!

In the famous 1865 tale “Alice in Wonderland” written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), when Alice was lost in the jungle and met the Cheshire cat, she asked him: “Excuse me Sir, where ought I go from here?” The cat replied half cynically: “It all depends a good deal on where you want to get to!” ³⁵ With this in mind, let’s chart our route towards an accommodation first by defining who the players are, i.e. who is in charge, how do they perceive each other, what is it they want, where do they stand, and what is it that should take place first before talking about establishing peace between the adversaries.

WHO IS IN CHARGE?

The Two Governments of Israel and the Two Governments of Palestine

There are effectively two Israeli governments in the world; the elected government in Jerusalem, and the self-appointed de facto government in Washington, D.C., i.e. the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), along with many local and international affiliates, and competitors. AIPAC, which wields probably more political power in the USA than the AFL-CIO and the National Rifle Association combined, consists of a coalition of American government, business, media, finance, and Jewish as well as non-Jewish leaders with similar objectives.

AIPAC operates thanks to a dedicated professional and highly remunerated bureaucracy handling a multi-million dollar budget, much of which comes from tax-exempt donations collected directly or indirectly from taxpayers, Jews and non-Jews alike. Behind them is a vast network of hard-working volunteers, some deeply religious, others not. Some, while being American citizens, carry their devotion all the way to serving in the various ranks of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

In North America for example, organizations such as AIPAC work for what they decide is in the interest of the American Jewish community, which they consider to be identical to that of Israel. But that is not always the case, since the Israelis are the ones on the ground to collect the hits, not those in North America. Sometimes the government of Israel finds its US foreign policy hijacked by AIPAC and its praetorian guards in the White House, Congress, the Senate, the intelligence community, the Pentagon, the media and the international finance community. AIPAC can afford to be as extreme as it wishes, and so puts pressure on successively elected Israeli governments to accept what it says on the basis of the saying that “What’s good for American Jews is good for Israel”.

While AIPAC and the government of Israel may disagree on who represents the Jews in Washington, D.C., the Israeli embassy and AIPAC are both pragmatic enough to realize that they have a common interdependency. Israel needs organizations such as AIPAC and others such as the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations to obtain what it wants from the US government; which it does. AIPAC also helps organize and influence at least part of the billions of dollars Israel has been receiving over the past many years from the US, to the tune of an estimated US$46,500 per Israeli citizen per annum, as reported in the media. To justify, legitimize and finance its own activities, AIPAC draws on the deep belief among Jews that the requirement to support Israel is a “mitzvah”, or divine command.

The strength of the North American organizations lies on a number of pillars, but chief among them is their lethal grip on the US government and legislature by the jugular. Of course no American will agree that this is the case, but that is how things are³⁶!

Those who think that the US government will put any meaningful sustained pressure on Israel at any time to reach a settlement with the Palestinians must be dreaming. The way things are, is that the US government supports the strong, the organized, and those who stand up for their own interests with round-the-clock steadfastness. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is one such organization.