The time for peace is now

IT’S now or never for the peace process, according to prominent Israeli journalist Ehud Ya’ari.

The chief Middle East commentator for Israel’s Channel 2 television has been addressing audiences in Melbourne and Sydney this month on the prospects for a two-state solution and Iran’s nuclear program, among other issues.

Speaking to community leaders at an Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council lunch in Sydney last Thursday, Ya’ari insisted the “time was now” to make a deal, while Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas was still in the picture. “The only chance of concluding a deal is with somebody like Abbas,” he said.

Abbas’ successors would not have the clout and prestige to be able to broker a deal, he continued, adding “We do it now, in a year or two, or it’s never going to happen”.

Ya’ari, the author of eight books on the Arab-Israeli conflict, said he believed there would be direct talks between Israel and the PA, not only around the framework of a final status deal, but also “an interim package, a partial deal between the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority”.

He said the United States had also changed its policy after realising that distancing itself from Israel and “picking public fights” did not pay off. “What we are witnessing now is an undeclared, unannounced reassessment of the Obama policy towards the Middle East,” he said. “Once Obama started changing tack we [also] saw immediately a different response from the Palestinians.”

He referred to two recent statements by Abbas, one which recognised the Jewish historical attachment to Jerusalem and one conceding that Palestinian refugees would not return to Israel in a final deal.
According to Ya’ari, Abbas is in a unique position to negotiate as the only Palestinian leader since the start of the Second Intifada in 2000 to publicly speak out against the use of violence.

He added that he believes Abbas realises the Palestinians need to make a deal with what is on the table now to avoid a protracted conflict which would lead to “the loss of the rest of the country and massive emigration”.

Ya’ari also spoke of the Obama Administration changing its stance towards Iran. “The policy based on engagement, unclenching the fist [and] knocking on doors has met with a negative response,” he said.

“The Arabs [have] said we cannot live with a nuclear Iran. They [the US] have given assurances — to the Arabs I stress — that they are not opting for the course of action which is based on containment of a nuclear Iran, and that’s major.

GARETH NARUNSKY