If Not [Arab-Israeli] Peace Now, What?

Moment Magazine asked several analysts briefly to discuss the state of Arab-Israeli diplomacy.

"Many Israelis, perhaps even a majority according to some polls, believe that the time has come for Israel to follow the 2003 Road Map to create two states—one Jewish, the other Palestinian. Yet, others in Israel and in the diaspora caution that the pursuit of peace at this time is hopeless, foolhardy, even dangerous. In the belief that it is important to hear voices from all sides of the debate, Moment posed the following question to a spectrum of such critics:

'If the peace process does not or cannot work, what do you envision happening in Israel over the next decade?'

Judea Pearl, Meyrav Wurmser, Benny Morris, Morton Klein, Shlomo Riskin, Daniel Gordis, Daniel Pipes, Shoshana Bryen and Steven Emerson offer us an honest look at their fears and hopes for Israel's future."

My response follows:

Unfortunately, the majority of Palestinians, perhaps 80 percent, still wish to eliminate Israel. Israel faces an unprecedented barrage of assaults—weapons of mass destruction, conventional forces, rockets, terrorists, internal sabotage, economic boycott and ideological undermining.

I would not call the current diplomacy a "peace process;" it's more of a "war process," for the situation has greatly deteriorated since the Oslo accords of 1993. The current round of negotiations cannot work because diplomacy does not succeed during wartime. First the war has to be resolved and then negotiations can fruitfully begin. Either the Jewish state is accepted by its neighbors or it is eliminated.

I wish it were possible to finesse this hard fact, but attempts so far have all failed, leading me to the conclusion that further negotiations are a mistake until the Palestinians give up their war goals.

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