The problem of give and take

Potential resolutions proposed by either side will be rejected so long as they pose the threat of dissolving the Palestinian fantasy.

By MICHAEL BAR-ZOHAR
Abbas Fayad 248.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
Abbas Fayad 248.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Once again, US Special Envoy George Mitchell will return to the region and come back empty handed. That will keep happening until the Americans - and perhaps even the Israelis - understand one simple truth: the Palestinians just don’t want to negotiate. They’ll keep coming up with a thousand reasons for not engaging in peace talks with Israel, just as they did over the past year: settlements, roadblocks, construction in Jerusalem, the flotilla incident, the refugees in Lebanon, Lieberman’s statements, some Israeli operation in the West Bank, were just some of the excuses they used. We should be grateful that they didn’t throw in the dancing soldiers in Hebron as another reason for refusing to negotiate.
RELATED: Whose fault is the ongoing occupation of the West Bank? (Premium) Beirut's long walk to the Middle East Canossa (Premium)Prosecuting Israel sets dangerous precedent (Premium)
Of course, after each new statement by PA President Mahmoud Abbas or Yasser Abed el Rabbo that they "won’t enter into direct negotiations unless…” – there is an outcry in Israel directed against our government for “not doing enough” for the peace process. Some people just don’t realize that the Palestinian leadership simply does not want these negotiations.
 Why? For one simple reason: Palestinian leaders know full well that a negotiation is based on give and take. They know what they want to take: the West Bank, East Jerusalem, their independence and clearly defined borders. But they also know what they will have to give: recognition of Israel as a Jewish State, an exchange of territories, full demilitarization, and first and foremost, they will have to give up the right of return of the Palestinian refugees to Israel.
This, they don’t believe they can do. The main constituency of the current Palestinian leaders is the refugees – the bitter masses in their squalid camps, living on the myth about returning to their land for years. Neither Abbas nor PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad believe that they can face the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who are considered refugees, and tell them "we gave away your dream, your hope, your legitimate right."
This was one of the main reasons for Yasser Arafat’s refusal to reach an agreement in 2000 at the Camp David negotiations with former PM Ehud Barak and former president Bill Clinton. Arafat couldn’t sign an agreement about “the end of the conflict” and drop the demand for a return of the refugees. And what Arafat couldn’t do, Abbas certainly can’t. This is even more distressing, as both Abbas and Fayyad are men committed to peace, and sincerely want to reach an agreement with Israel.
One could ask: If they won’t sit down and negotiate, what kind of agreement are they expecting to reach? But what they want is an agreement without negotiation, an agreement, where they’ll get everything they want without giving Israel anything in return. This, they believe, can be achieved if the outside world, the great powers - the United Nations, the European Union, the Arab states – unite in pressuring Israel into a peace agreement where the abolition of the right of return is not be mentioned. Or if it is mentioned, it would be camouflaged in such nebulous terms that it will be practically non-existent. They want a peace agreement where the Jewish nature of the state of Israel won’t be mentioned either, giving way to a future demand to make it “a State of all its citizens”, the first step toward the collapse of Zionism and of the Jewish state as we know it. The declarations of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and others that they will recognize an independent Palestinian state definitely strengthen the Palestinian position.
The Palestinian policy is very smartly carried out. Over the last years, a continuous campaign for the de-legitimization and demonization of Israel is being waged, and our Palestinian neighbors, unfortunately, play a major part in it. They assume that if Israel becomes the world’s pariah, a leper state, condemned and boycotted by major international organizations, it will be forced to accept a peace treaty with the terms dictated by the world at large.
And here again, we see one of the major flaws in this Palestinian policy. It is this stubborn, baseless fantasy that makes them believe that Israel, pressured by the world, will give up its vital interests and capitulate. It is this same fantasy that encourages them to say no, over and over again, while pointing an accusing finger at Israel, until finally – just like in their wildest dreams- Israel yields to world pressure.
This will never happen. The Palestinian leaders don’t realize that in the long run all this procrastination and all these fiery declarations rejecting direct negotiations work against their best interests. Time is of the essence; they should have been engaged in direct talks long ago. They refuse to understand this. If the current effort to restart negotiations backfires, we may find ourselves - both Israelis and Palestinians – pushed down a perilous road that nobody wants to go down.
The writer is a former Labor Party MK and the official biographer of David Ben-Gurion and Shimon Peres.