The Jerusalem Report Magazine: Columnists : Columnists Article

Click for Contents

Click here to subscribe to The Jerusalem Report

P.O. Box 1805,Jerusalem 91017
Tel. 972-2-531-5440,
Fax: 972-2-537-9489
Advertising Fax:
972-2-531-5425,
Email Editorial: [email protected]
Subscriptions: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.jrep.com

Ehud Ya'ari: Get It Right This Time

The Israeli prime minister surprised Washington unnecessarily

The disagreements among those responsible for the Arab-Israel portfolio in the various branches of the U.S. administration are now more evident than at any time in the past. Surprisingly little effort is being made even to resort to polite diplomatic-speak to obfuscate the obvious differences in approach between the National Security Council and the State Department, the CIA and the Pentagon, and even between the pro-Israel factions in the two big parties. What is emerging as a common line came out of an argument at the White House in mid-February, but the controversy rumbles on. On one side are those who favor sticking with the principles enunciated in George Bush�s June 24, 2002, speech, conditioning progress toward Palestinian statehood on the emergence of a new Palestinian leadership, regardless of the blueprint drafted in the road map. And on the other side are those who prefer the outline of the road map over the tough principles of the speech. One senior interlocutor described the road map to me as a State Department Near East Bureau "protest" against the contents of that speech.

When it comes to Ariel Sharon�s unilateral disengagement plan, however, there appears to be a rare confluence of opinion: The Israeli prime minister surprised Washington unnecessarily, the thinking goes, and he�d have done better to sound out his ideas quietly before sounding off at the Herz-liyah Conference last December and declaring the imminent death of the road map.

This was a superfluous error that Israel was called upon to correct, and it has now complied with swift clarifications that any unilateral actions will be tailored to fit the outline of the road map. We have been told in no uncertain terms that we cannot create a situation in which Israel effectively removes the Bush "vision" of two states from the agenda and replaces it with a Sharon initiative.

The Americans fully understand where Sharon wants to lead them -- to a bilateral U.S.-Israeli agreement over the contours of the next stage. But they aren�t too impressed by the possibility that that�s where the process will end.

This is why National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice has already turned to the Europeans to try to make some progress with the Palestinians. The U.S. is not about to approve the "security plan" that British intelligence has drawn up for the Palestinian Authority. But there needs to be a European-Palestinian understanding about how to handle Israel�s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and an attempt to link it to the American-Israeli understanding. Rather with arrangements than without.

And there is no hurry. Sharon has set an agenda, but no real timetable. In any case, Israel won�t be ready to evacuate the settlements of Gush Katif before the U.S. elections on November 4. Until then, the administration does not want to see any steps that would seem to contradict the policy of uncompromising war on terror, and certainly none that could be considered as undermining it.

The gist of the latest American messages to Israel can be summed up like this:

� Settlements should be evacuated not only in the Gaza Strip but in the West Bank too. There, they should include not only Ganim and Kadim near Jenin, and Sa Nur and Homesh far out in the countryside north of Nablus, but also another group of isolated settlements on the Samarian ridge.

� In such a case, the United States would not object to some of the settlers from Gush Katif being relocated to areas of the West Bank, such as Gush Etzion, that are slated to remain under Israeli control in the context of any future permanent agreement.

� The priority should be for "coordinated unilateralism" at the very least (the phrase was coined by former U.S. Mideast envoy Dennis Ross), and, preferably, for withdrawal as part of an interim agreement.

� Extensive easing of restrictions is necessary to improve the condition of the Palestinians on the other side of the fence, including the wholesale dismantling of roadblocks.

� Under no circumstances must Israel cause the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, but the demand for internal PA reform must not be dropped.

� The Arab states -- chief among them Egypt and Jordan -- must be full partners in shaping these steps, especially if President Mubarak does in the end agree to take responsibility for the border between Gaza and Egypt.

� And finally, Israel must not ask the United States in the near term for any financial compensation for removing settlements.

The dialogue between Jerusalem and Washington is only just beginning, and the advice Sharon is getting from the capital is not to dare arrive at the White House with half-baked ideas, but only after the whole package is properly in place. That might mean delaying Sharon�s anticipated March visit to Washington until April.

This time around, the Americans are counseling, or requesting, that Israel gets it right from the start, and doesn�t repeat the mistakes it made in planning the route of the fence.