Tuesday, July 1, 2003 [N&O]

  POINT OF VIEW

U.S. aid as a lever for peace  

By MATTHEW NOAH SMITH

 CHAPEL HILL -- Recently, I had the good fortune to enjoy the Jewish tradition of sharing a Friday evening Sabbath dinner with my family. This seems a small matter. But inmost Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, as a result of the Israeli policy of military occupation, curfews and roadblocks, breaking bread and having fellowship with one's family is difficult at best.  

My family discussed how lucky we are to share such a dinner. It wasn't always that way. Early in the past century, my grandparents and great-grandparents lived in a world similar to the Palestinian world. Deep in our collective memory, my family carries the fear of a resurgence of the hatred that rent my ancestors from their homes and tore their families apart. Thus, the killing of civilians and repression in the Middle East has particular resonance with us. We ask ourselves: when will a just peace finally reign in Israel and Palestine? 

The latest plan for peace is the "road map" upon which President Bush has placed great hope. Unfortunately, despite recent developments things look grim for the roadmap. 

Last week, Hamas and Islamic Jihad agreed to a cease-fire. But such a cease-fire may not be meaningful. Israel has not fully embraced the conditions of the cease-fire.

For most Palestinians, peace can only come with an end to the occupation. Anger and frustration at daily humiliations will continue to mount within Palestinian communities until they boil over again in the form of violence directed against Israelis. Until the occupation ends, we should not expect a lasting peace. 

We could pin the blame for this failure on the hawkish Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon. Or we could blame Palestinians who, faced with the brutality of the occupation, increasingly rush to support Hamas and its violent methods. But this wouldn't be the whole story. Americans are responsible also. For a just and lasting peace among Israelis and Palestinians, our own government must also change its policies. 

More than 200,000 settlers live in the occupied territories. A plurality moved there in the years since the 1993 signing of the Oslo accords. Recently, Israel committed to building a $2 billion fence along the border between Israel and the West Bank. In order to accomplish this, Israel has deployed thousands of troops to evict Palestinians from their ancestral homes and to uproot and destroy the olive and citrus grooves at the heart of the Palestinian economy. 

So, the costs of the occupation of Palestine are staggering. How can Israel pay for it? Israel can afford the occupation only because the United States has been supporting it financially and rhetorically all along. 

More than $150 billion in direct aid has been funneled from the United States to Israel over the past 35 years. Israel has received more congressionally mandated aid than any other foreign state. Annual support currently totals more than $13 billion in grants and loan guarantees. 

Despite flagrantly violating the requirements of the road map, Israel continues to receive unabated both this aid and full rhetorical support from the Bush administration.

Furthermore, Bush's overall policy in the region reinforces the failed tactics of occupation and assassination. Israel simply has not been given any genuine reasons to follow the road map.

Some have argued that Palestinians must permanently cease all violent tactics before Israel begins any implementation of the road map. This just takes the power out of the hands of ordinary Israelis and Palestinians and puts it in the hands of extremists. Such a policy is an abdication of responsibility.

We as Americans also abdicate our responsibilities when we refuse to make a difference where we can. And since the occupation is a main cause of the violence, and since American money pays for that occupation, Americans have a great deal of power to make a difference. 

U.S. financial and military support for Israel should be conditional on Israel's full compliance with the requirements of the road map. It now requires that Israel freezes all settlement activity, immediately dismantles settlement outposts erected since March 2001 and immediately ceases provocative attacks on Palestinians. Only once we show our commitment to peace in the Middle East will Palestinians and Israelis follow suit. 

Caught in a cycle of violence, hatred and fear, they cannot escape this quagmire until our government stops supporting the occupation. The first step toward Israelis and Palestinians sharing regular and joyous meals with their respective families is in our hands. 

(Matthew Noah Smith is a Ph.D. candidate at UNC-Chapel Hill and a member of the Triangle-based group Jews for a Just Peace-NC jfajpnc@yahoo.com)