Jerusalem Issue Briefs-Israel's Foreign Policy in the Shadow of Iran and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
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the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
by  Danny Ayalon Your email here
Published December 2009
 Daily Alert
Vol. 9, No. 16    31 December 2009
 Jerusalem Issue Brief
   Post Holocaust Anti-Semitism
 Changing Jewish
Israel's Foreign Policy in the Shadow of Iran and the Palestinian-
Communities
Israeli Conflict
GO
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon
Our Fellows' Books
Israel must simultaneously pursue three interdependent tracks for
advancing Israeli-Palestinian relations: capacity-building measures
that foster the rule of law within the Palestinian Authority, regional
economic cooperation, and meaningful political dialogue.
Although conducting dialogue with the Palestinians is a matter of
utmost importance for Israel, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam
Fayyad's recent plan to unilaterally declare statehood after a two-
year state-building process is unrealistic. The emergence of a
future Palestinian state will only be a result of consensus and
successful negotiations, not an artificial timeline.
If we are to proceed with a viable diplomatic process with the
Palestinians, it is critically important to curb malign Iranian
influence in the region and its support of terror proxies like La Shoah
Hizbullah and Hamas. - Freddy Eytan-
Challenging the Iranian bid for hegemony, however, is not the Publications List
responsibility of Israel alone, but of the larger international
Show Publications
community, which must make it clear to the regime led by
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that there is a steep price to pay for its By Year
continued violations of international norms and UN resolutions. By Author
During World War II, David Ben-Gurion famously said: "We must assist Search Articles
the British in the war as if there were no White Paper and we must resist Keywords
the White Paper as if there were no war." Today Israel seems determined
to solve the Palestinian issue as if there were no Iranian threat, and as
Topic
part of the international community it is determined to remove the Iranian
All
All
threat as if there were no Palestinian issue. Yet the two problems share a
Date
common root.
Anytime
Anytime
 
Palestinian Tracks Send to a friend
At the moment there are three ongoing tracks for Israeli-Palestinian Print page
relations. Although they are in different stages of evolution, they should be
pursued simultaneously.
First, there are capacity-building measures. The Israeli government
supports the U.S.-led multinational effort to train the Palestinian
Authority's security forces in the West Bank, headed by Lt. Gen. Keith
Dayton. We also value the European Union's efforts to bolster the rule of
law and law enforcement norms within the Palestinian Authority. More
steps should be taken to insure a transparent Palestinian culture of
Jerusalem Issue Briefs-Israel's Foreign Policy in the Shadow of Iran and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

governance that includes the right institutions, a separation of powers, and

the rule of law. We would like to see a state which can take care of itself,
behaves responsibly vis-à-vis both its citizens and other nations, and
abides by international norms.

The second track is that of economic development. Israel wishes to see

Palestinians enjoy the same standard of living every human being
deserves. Already there are positive changes in standard of living
indicators in the Palestinian Authority: unemployment is down, tourism is
up, and there is an 8 percent GDP growth in the West Bank. But in order
to create thousands of Palestinian jobs, a goal which lies within easy
reach, we need a kind of Marshall Plan to build an industrial base. Even
as the Israeli government has done much in this respect by allowing
access and movement of goods, Arab countries could be doing much
more. Both the Americans and Europeans have called on the Arab
League to pitch in. And Saudi Arabia, enriched by its trillions of dollars
from oil exports, is well placed to make a significant contribution to
improving the Palestinian economy.

Capacity-building and economic cooperation can usher in progress on the

third track, political dialogue, which must be pursued simultaneously with
the other two tracks. Whatever the date of the next Palestinian Authority
elections, I believe that within a few months we could see the initiation of
a meaningful dialogue. Certainly that is Israel's intention. We want to
resume a peace process with no preconditions. As we do not demand
that the Palestinians agree to preconditions, we will not accept any
preconditions imposed on us.

Yet, strangely, the dialogue was severed by the Palestinian side despite
the fact that the same Palestinian Authority administration that conducted
an intensive dialogue with the last Israeli government is still in power.
Nothing has changed except the administrations in Washington and
Jerusalem. Since Benjamin Netanyahu was elected prime minister,
however, Israel's offer to meet with PA President Mahmoud Abbas without
preconditions was rebuffed. The same offer came from Foreign Minister
Avigdor Lieberman. Meanwhile, even low-level meetings have not been
held with Palestinian representatives for the simple reason that the
Palestinians choose not to meet with us.

The cornerstone of dialogue is already in place: it was laid out in the

Bush letter of April 14, 2004, which committed the United States to
defensible borders for Israel, to Israel's retention of major settlement
blocs, and on the refugee issue suggested that all Palestinian refugees
return to the future Palestinian state rather than Israel. But Palestinian
Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's recent plan to unilaterally declare
statehood after a two-year state-building process is unrealistic. The
emergence of a future Palestinian state will only be a result of consensus
and successful negotiations, not an artificial timeline.

Conducting dialogue with the Palestinians is a matter of utmost

importance for Israel. It is in our interest as well as theirs, as it is in the
interest of our neighboring Arab states and beyond. Because that dialogue
must proceed as fast as possible on multiple tracks, trying to single out an
issue like settlements was a misstep, not only from a moral but also from
a political point of view as well. Instead, a wide array of topics ought to be
discussed: territory, resources, sovereignty, independence,
demilitarization, what is euphemistically called "the right of return,"
Jerusalem, settlements, terror, incitement, and recognizing Israel for what
it determines itself to be - a Jewish state. 

The Iranian Connection

If we are to proceed with a viable diplomatic process with the

Palestinians, however, Israel must remove the obstacles that arise in the

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Jerusalem Issue Briefs-Israel's Foreign Policy in the Shadow of Iran and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

form of terror organizations such as Hamas, Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad, and

other groups that have sought to derail the process. These organizations
are receiving Iranian support at ever increasing volumes. After the Gaza
operation, for example, Hamas has not only been able to replenish all its
losses in military equipment, but has even upgraded its rocket capabilities
by obtaining missiles which have put Tel Aviv within target range. Hamas
is almost exclusively supported by Iranian funds, training, and equipment.
The same is true of Hizbullah and other terror organizations through
which Iran is seeking to undermine Sunni governments in the region. So
to achieve better prospects for dialogue with the Palestinians - without the
threats of terror, extremism, and incitement - it is critically important to
curb local Iranian influence.

Indeed, today all the worst threats to the Middle East originate in Iran.
Lebanon is a case in point. The most urgent threat to the Lebanese
people comes not from Israel or the West, but from Hizbullah - an Iranian
organ which represents Iranian interests, not Lebanese ones. Other
countries in the region are similarly affected. Large terror rings operated
by Hizbullah have been discovered in Egypt, Morocco, Yemen, and Saudi
Arabia. Closer to home, it is clear that the main obstacle to the viability of
the Palestinian Authority is Hamas, which, although it is a Sunni
organization, is backed by the Iranians. Iran is also trying to recruit
Israelis, and is helping Islamic Jihad and other terror organizations to
perpetrate attacks in Israel.

Yet the Iranian menace is hardly limited to the Middle East alone. Iran
was behind the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in 1992, in which 30
people were killed, as well as the July 1994 bombing of the Jewish
community center in Buenos Aires that left some 100 people dead.
General Ahmad Vahidi, today the defense minister of Iran, is wanted by
Interpol for masterminding the 1994 attack. More recently, Hugo Chavez
has turned Venezuela into a kind of forward base for the Iranians in South
America, and Hizbullah terrorist cells now operate on the Venezuela-
Colombia border.

Iran - a radical regime with an extreme ideology - remains a country with

global as well as regional ambitions. The Iranians talk about hegemony,
and about the return of the Twelfth Imam, also known as the Hidden
Imam or the Mahdi. Claiming direct contact with Allah, the country's
clerics believe that they are ordained to rule the Middle East by Shari'a.
They also believe that the glory days of Islam are still ahead. Most
troublingly, their missiles can reach Europe. Iran is thus a world problem,
not merely an Israeli problem. In a sense, Israel is taking a back seat,
hoping that the other 192 member states of the United Nations will be
able to halt further nuclear enrichment in Iran and impose an effective
monitoring mechanism. After all, it is by no means preordained that Iran
will attain nuclear weapons. This eventuality can still be stopped.

The good news is that the regime led by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has

fewer and fewer cards to play. As the post-election protests have
demonstrated, Iran is vulnerable both politically and socially. It also
remains economically weak, unable to withstand long-term economic
sanctions that could grind its economy to a halt and further undermine the
present regime. The international community must make clear to the
Iranians both that there is a steep price to pay for its continued violations
of UN resolutions, and also that the international community stands united
in purpose and in policy.

*     *     *

Danny Ayalon was appointed Ambassador to the United States in 2002.

Prior to that he had served as Deputy Foreign Policy Adviser to two
previous prime ministers, and as Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon, during which time he was a member of the Israeli
delegations to the Sharm El-Sheikh (1997), Wye Plantation (1998),
and Camp David (2000) summits. He also played a leading role in the

http://jcpa.org/...11&FID=442&PID=0&IID=3251&TTL=Israel%27s_Foreign_Policy_in_the_Shadow_of_Iran_and_the_Palestinian-Israeli_Conflict[12/19/2010 10:34:44 AM]

Jerusalem Issue Briefs-Israel's Foreign Policy in the Shadow of Iran and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

negotiations for the Roadmap and the exchange of letters on April 14,
2004, between President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Sharon.
This Jerusalem Issue Brief is based on his presentation to the Institute for
Contemporary Affairs in Jerusalem on November 3, 2009.

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