Pessimistic about Palestinian-Israeli peace, say experts

It is one of the enduring problems of the world and the Palestinian-Israeli imbroglio doesn't seem to offer any hope of a peaceful resolution soon, says experts who were divided on whether to continue to strive for a two-state solution or any other solution. They all acknowledge the Israeli settlements on the West Bank are the stumbling block.

All speakers also agreed that the US was not doing all it could to ensure a peaceful and abiding settlement.

Introducing the session "The Twilight Zone: Between Arabs and Israelis" at the Jaipur Literary Festival Saturday, India's former envoy to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri said the recent Hamas-Israeli conflict had caused "deep scepticism" about the prospects of any negotiated settlement and the "essential core" of the problem was the settlements.

He recalled once there was a resolution in the UN Security Council on the issue and all 15 members were on the same page but American envoy Susan Rice came to him and said her country had a problem with the word "illegal" and it should instead be "illegitimate".

"Though to my mind, there was no difference... but the US anyway vetoed it," he said.

American author Kai Bird, who spent his childhood in the Middle East and has written about his experiences, noted he was a "contrarian and a naive optimist" and pinned his hopes on a two-state solution but admitted it was "not likely to happen soon".

He held out the hope that the forthcoming Israeli elections could throw up a winner interested in taking the peace process to a conclusion, instead of incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud.

Israeli journalist-author Gideon Levy , who noted he was not a professional diplomat, did not mince words and described the settlements as not only "illegal" or "illegitimate" but "criminal".

He contended all Israeli parties had the "one goal of preventing any just settlement" by encouraging settlements.

"It is all about real estate," Levy asserted.

He held it was not a complex conflict and there was a "basic set of facts that no one can deny". "Israel annexed Gaza and West Bank and it has been one of the most brutal tragedies. The occupation must end," he said.

Levy said all Israeli leaders had tricks and ways of preventing a solution and all kinds of cover ups. "There are religious and security excuses, that there is terror, there is no partner (on the Palestinian side), (Yasser) Arafat was an obstacle and so on."

Journalist-author Adam LeBor said he shared Levy's anger but also agreed with Bird.

"Opinion polls show a majority of people are for a peaceful, two state solution. People are ready for peace but are badly led on both sides," he said.

Palestinian writer Fady Joudah lamented that his people's narrative and right to speak had got confined to opinion polls.

"There is so much knowledge that issues get diluted. There has been speaking of the language of power, what we need is speaking of the language of the vanquished.. common decency about the Palestinian plight," he said.

Indian diplomat and former envoy to Israel Navtej Sarna, who noted he was speaking in his personal capacity, said the "Twilight Zone" was an apt description but plumped for following the two-state solution despite all the obstacles.

He termed it unfortunate that there was no space for negotiations and leaders ready to make sacrifices and take risks.

"There is need of one-two people, one on each side, ready to put their life on the line to solve this old issue which goes before 1948 (the first Arab-Israeli War) to the time when Jewish settlers were coming in to then Turkish-ruled Palestine. But counter-narratives cannot be dismissed as propaganda.. people live with them, believe in them...

"We can in short term condemn the Twilight Zone but what is important is how we engage with the Twilight Zone in a way that makes human dignity possible beyond a label of victim," he said.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)