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 ay
this for the Saudis: They excel at changing the subject. Just as
U.S.-Saudi relations were beginning to crumble over Riyadh's role
in nurturing Islamic fanaticism, along comes Crown Prince Abdullah
with a plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is,
of course, nothing about his proposal that hasn't been mooted before,
and it offers Israel nothing more than the prospect of a bitterly
cold peace with the Arabs.
Given that
the House of Saud has a profound interest in seeing the intifada
continue — after all, once the Palestinian issue is off the
table, all those seething young Saudis are surely going to direct
their rage inward — it stands to reason that Abdullah's initiative
is merely a cynical ploy to divert attention from the kingdom's
murderous duplicity. But let's not answer his cynicism with our
own. President Bush called Abdullah to thank him for his olive branch;
now he should call his bluff.
The real obstacle
to a lasting settlement in the Middle East has always been Arab
hypocrisy and the West's acquiescence in it. For decades, the Arabs
have howled about the plight of the West Bank and Gaza Palestinians,
even while undermining every attempt at remedying the situation
and treating their own Palestinian populations like dirt. Memories
of the massacre at Sabra and Shatila apparently smolder in every
Arab heart — but when, following the Gulf War, 300,000 Palestinians
were evicted from Kuwait in an orgy of ethnic cleansing that would
have made Slobodan Milosevic blush, the anguish in Cairo and Damascus
was, well, muted.
Likewise, our
stalwart allies, the Egyptians and the Saudis, played a singularly
unhelpful role during the Camp David talks two years ago: Rather
than pressing Yasser Arafat to sign on the dotted line, they warned
him that he had no business negotiating away any part of Jerusalem,
thus giving the wily little thug one more reason not to cut a deal.
And yet the Arabs continue to claim — with straight faces —
that Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is the source of all
that ails the Middle East; and the appeasers in Europe and at Foggy
Bottom continue to nod their heads in sympathy. The president should
politely tell Abdullah that the time has arrived to put up or shut
up — that if he wants the Palestinian question settled, he
and other Arab leaders are finally going to have to take some risks
for peace, too.
Already, the
Saudis have nixed the idea of immediately opening a dialogue with
Israel; they want the Sharon government to first reach out to Arafat.
The president should inform Abdullah that his plan is a non-starter
unless he is prepared to break bread with the Israelis right now.
From the Israeli standpoint, the problem with the Oslo process was
that there was never any light at the end of the tunnel: Even if
Israel gave the Palestinians the sun and the moon — and Ehud
Barak tried — anti-Zionism would remain the Arab world's secular
religion.
Moreover, as
Arafat has proven time and again, he makes peace only when war is
not an option. He embraced diplomacy after the Gulf War simply because
he had no one to bankroll his terrorism. The Soviet Union had gone
bust, and the PLO had put itself in purgatory by backing Saddam
Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. Only when peace is breaking out all
around him — and his fellow Arabs are no longer willing to
underwrite his violence — will Arafat lay down arms. For these
reasons, Bush needs to instruct Abdullah that the first move is
his.
The president
should ask the crown prince to demonstrate his sincerity by traveling
to Israel, and including on his itinerary a speech to the Knesset
and a tour of Yad Vashem. More exchanges will follow, ultimately
resulting in the establishment of full diplomatic, economic, and
cultural ties. Abdullah should also be advised that the administration
will wish to see a cessation of the anti-Semitic bile spewed out
by the Saudi media (the Saudi government controls the spigot; it
can shut it) and will require, in the interest of promoting tolerance
and understanding, that the Arabic-language service of Israel Television
be made available in Saudi homes.
The president
should tell Abdullah that once these terms have been met —
and if the Saudis really want peace for themselves and the Palestinians,
it should take them no time to satisfy Washington's conditions —
the administration will sit down and hammer out a final agreement
between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The Israelis will not
surrender the Golan Heights, nor will they completely withdraw to
the pre-1967 borders; the objective will be to give Israel secure
borders while creating a Palestinian state, free of nearly all Israeli
settlements, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Bush should
further stipulate that once Palestinian independence is achieved,
the United States will expect Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states
to foot the bill for rebuilding the Palestinian economy. Abdullah
should be reminded that just 18 months ago, the Arab League grandly
promised the Palestinians $1 billion in aid but then delivered only
around $30 million, withholding the balance because of concerns
about corruption (this from the Saudis and the Egyptians? Never
let it be said that they don't have a sense of humor). He and his
fellow Arabs are now going to have to cough up the cash.
At the same
time, the United States will demand that discrimination against
Palestinians residing in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries end
immediately, and that they be given full rights as citizens. Surely
it must tug at Abdullah's conscience to realize that a Palestinian
living in Israel enjoys more liberties than a Palestinian in Jedda;
here's an opportunity to rectify that. It should also be made clear
that because the Palestinians outside Israel will not be granted
the right of return, Washington will want the Palestinian refugee
camps in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan emptied and their occupants
fully integrated into the societies that have kept them caged, for
a half-century, as hostages to the "Palestinian cause."
Finally, to
ensure a sustainable peace, the president should require that any
Israeli-Palestinian agreement include the following provision: The
Palestinian side of the border will be policed for the first ten
years by a joint Saudi-Egyptian-Jordanian patrol. The Israelis have
every reason to fear that a Palestinian state will be a terrorist
state; what better way to assuage their concern than by putting
a coalition of Arab forces in the firing line? It goes without saying
that if statehood failed to curb Palestinian violence, Israel would
be compelled to dismantle the Palestinian state. The Saudis, Egyptians,
and Jordanians would then face a searing dilemma: Order their soldiers
to battle the Israelis or instruct them to step aside. In other
words, the choice would be war with Israel or humiliation by Israel.
Given that they can afford neither, the Arabs would have abundant
incentive to keep the Palestinians in line.
Crocodile tears
and blood money; this is the sum total of what the Arab world has
contributed to the Palestinians. Abdullah's gesture is an empty,
insincere one; however, the Bush administration shouldn't do him
the favor of treating it as such. But for American might, Abdullah
and his fellow royals would be dead, living in exile, or rotting
in an Iraqi jail. We have some leverage here, and we ought to use
it to make the crown prince match his words with actions. And if
he balks, we should tell Abdullah that the next time he wants to
discuss the Palestinians, he should save his dime.
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