Critics of President Obama’s Middle East policy like to say the Palestinians have “never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” It’s a twist on the quote from Abba Eban, the Israeli diplomat and politician, who said after the Geneva Peace Conference in 1973: “The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”
Their point is that the Israelis do not have a partner for peace, and until they do, there should be no peace process. Moreover, the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank is extremely weak. In the absence of a partner, Israel certainly should not be pressured to make concessions.
I’ve always believed this line of thinking stands logic on its head. It’s the peace process (not unilateral Israeli moves) — including the active engagement of the United States bringing Arab nations along – coupled with economic improvement for Palestinians on the ground, that will over time create the partner.
An article on the front page of the New York Times today, “Signs of Hope Emerge in West Bank,” is a reason for optimism.
The first movie theater to operate in this Palestinian city in two decades opened its doors in late June. Palestinian policemen standing beneath new traffic lights are checking cars for seat belt violations. One-month-old parking meters are filling with the coins of shoppers. Music stores are blasting love songs into the street, and no nationalist or Islamist scold is forcing them to stop. …
For the first time since the second Palestinian uprising broke out in late 2000, leading to terrorist bombings and fierce Israeli countermeasures, a sense of personal security and economic potential is spreading across the West Bank as the Palestinian Authority’s security forces enter their second year of consolidating order.
The International Monetary Fund is about to issue its first upbeat report in years for the West Bank, forecasting a 7 percent growth rate for 2009.
Police checking cars for seat belt violations? Are we in Nablus, or suburban Central Jersey?
The article is accompanied by a photo of Palestinian teenage girls – hair straightened, wearing rhinestone-studded jeans, glittering belts, and showing some skin — buying movie tickets in front of a huge poster of Johnny Depp from Pirates of the Caribbean. It chronicles a surge in car sales, the success of a seven-story home furnishing store that sells the latest espresso machines, and a growing trust between Israeli and Palestinian forces, some of whom have been trained abroad.
If social and economic conditions continue to improve in the West Bank, isn’t it possible — despite all the heated rhetoric and even anti-Israel propaganda — that moderation will ultimately attract more disciples than fundamentalism? And that if this is coupled with continued engagement by President Obama, in a regional strategic approach with the Arab states, it could strengthen West Bank leadership, and embolden them meet the Israelis half-way?
“Twice in recent months we have been amazed,” an Israeli general told the New York Times, speaking about the seriousness of Palestinian security forces, who in June clashed ferociously with Hamas terrorists, fighting them to the death.
The West Bank. Where amazing happens? It’s only twice, but it’s a start.