Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: No smooth road to peace

Friday, May 2, 2003 | 5:34 a.m.

THE PROPOSED "ROAD MAP" to peace in the Middle East has more than a few bumps and potholes before it reaches its destination. The road is not a passage that will be treated kindly by history books if the drivers of the plan attempt to speed. The promoters of the Oslo agreement were so excited about tasting success they failed to take action when Yasser Arafat broke most of the rules. A little less speed and more thought and measurement of progress will be required if this latest peace effort is to succeed.

Nevada's Rep. Shelley Berkley has expressed concern that Arafat has still too much power for Prime Minister Abu Mazen to be successful. In a press release she made clear her concerns when saying, "Despite the formation of a new cabinet, Yasser Arafat remains the head of the Palestinian Authority, and maintains power over the PA's finances, security, and negotiations. While Arafat continues to wield so much power, a breakthrough in the peace process is unlikely. Pro-Arafat forces dominate the new cabinet, while only a few ministers owe their loyalty to Abu Mazen. ..."

Berkley has good reason to be concerned about Arafat wanting peace. Every time he got what he demanded he resorted to terrorism in a quest to get even more. The first demand made by the new prime minister reflected Arafat's still powerful presence. He told reporters he wouldn't meet with foreign officials abroad until Israel lifts its travel ban on Arafat.

Both the Israelis and Palestinians must recognize that suffering by innocent people isn't restricted only to their constituents. The terrorists must be disarmed and relieved of their explosives. Any cease-fire on the part of Arafat has always had more of a Hollywood touch than reality. The killers went into the front door of his jails and out the back door to pick up their bombs and weapons. Abu Mazen must disarm and uproot the terrorists. Then Israel must remove the settlements that have sprung up since March 2001 and halt any additional settlement building and expansion.

The peace plan also requires that Palestinian security forces be restructured and retrained. This move had better be watched closely because the last time this effort was made it backfired. Both the U.S. and Israel armed Arafat's "security forces" and in short order they were protecting and arming terrorists.

Twice the "road map" mentions the refugee problems which must be solved. This could be a very serious pothole if both Jewish and Palestinian refugees aren't included. Most publications have taken for granted that it refers only to Palestinians. They can't afford to forget the 800,000 Jews who were forced from their homes and thriving businesses in Arab countries. More than 600,000 of them went to the safety of Israel. In this oversight some Palestinians are demanding a right to return to areas in Israel. It's difficult to believe the Israelis will allow a Palestinian state next door and then have their own country weakened by adding large numbers of foreign Arabs to its own population.

Former prime minister of Israel, Ehud Barak, probably lost his re-election because of the generous peace offerings he made to Yasser Arafat. Arafat turned down the peace offerings made in the U.S. and returned to start the bloody intifada still raging in Israel. In the Wall Street Journal, Barak recently warned that "before the Palestinians get the world's -- and Israel's -- approval to establish a Palestinian provisional state, they have to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and realize that a 'right of return' for Palestinian refugees is acceptable only into the Palestinian state, not into Israel. This is just, fair and symmetrical. Avoiding this issue will not simplify things but rather complicate them in the future."

Reading the provisions of this peace plan is encouraging. It has proposed a path, not a road, which must be smoothed out and filled in by deep thinkers, both Palestinians and Israelis, who truly want peace. Their people have suffered for too long.

As I have written before, I don't see real peace becoming a way of life in the Middle East until schoolteachers and parents spend more time on subject matter and none on teaching hate and how to blow up a bus or throw hand grenades. Until schools funded and taught by extreme Islamists cease their present teachings, there will never be peace in the Middle East or the world.