Issues: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

There are growing fears that all efforts to halt the settlements or reform the Palestinian Authority and restart peace talks could be made irrelevant by a new catastrophic event comparable to Palestinian losses in 1948.  Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has for decades promoted the slogan "Jordan is Palestine," arguing that a Palestinian state should replace Jordan and that West Bank/Gaza Palestinians who want a state should go to live there.³⁵

A group of ninety-eight Israeli academicians, concerned about the possible actions of the a government headed by Mr. Sharon, the growing number of officials who openly call for the “transfer” of Palestinians, and opinion polls showing substantial support for the idea, recently issued a statement opposing transfer. 

• Introduction
• Why did Oslo fail?
• The Settlements
• Palestinian Authority and Reform
• The Way Ahead
• Preventing "Transfer"
• Rocard Task Force report
• Fig. 1: Israel, Occupied Territories
• Fig. 2: Israeli Settlements - 2002
• Resources

Their statement says "The Israeli government may be contemplating crimes against humanity. . .We are deeply worried by indications that the 'fog of war' [created by a U.S. attack on Iraq] could be exploited by the Israeli government to commit further crimes against the Palestinian people, up to full-fledged ethnic cleansing."³⁶ 

Last June, an international Quaker delegation traveling in the region heard many similar expressions of concern from Palestinians and Israelis.³⁷   Some noted that a "silent transfer" had already begun, with families leaving the West Bank and Gaza as the economy collapsed under the weight of the closures and curfews.³⁸  Jordanian authorities estimate that as many as 200,000 Palestinians have entered Jordan and not returned to the West Bank and Gaza since September 2000. ³⁹ 

In September, Henry Siegman, a former executive director of the American Jewish Congress and Middle East fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote that a deepening Israeli hold on the West Bank and Gaza "can only lead to the expulsion of most Palestinians and the permanent subjugation of those who remain." ⁴⁰  Former Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Meron Benvenisti urged in August that "Anyone who regards such ethnic cleansing as a horrible crime must raise their voice now, without any of the 'ifs, ands or buts' so typical of the response to the punishment [of "...curfews, closures, assassinations, house demolitions, expulsions, annulment of Israeli citizenship and denials of legal defense..."] already being meted out in ever more strict steps."  The Americans, Benvenisti added, "should also be warned that an assault on Iraq could unleash ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.  Nobody should be allowed to say they weren't warned."⁴¹

This is a crucial issue where timely expressions of concern could be decisive.  In addition to calling for a settlement freeze and reform of the Palestinian Authority, Friends and other advocates for just peace should urge the U.S. government to issue a public warning against the expulsion of West Bank/Gaza Palestinians during a war against Iraq or at any other time.

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