Having Failed, Both Arafat and Netanyahu Must Go

The patient is almost dead. The patient in this scenario is the Middle East peace process--or hope for it. All the resuscitation efforts--shuttling back and forth by U.S. envoy Dennis Ross, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s visit or the incomprehensible summit of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Jordan’s King Hussein in Cairo--have failed. Like the lonely feeling of a hospital waiting room, anxiety fills the air of this troubled region. No one is brave enough to announce to the family that the brain shows no activity and the heart has stopped beating: The peace process is dead.

Brain failure is clear in the absence of any waves of bright initiatives or creative solutions. Heart failure is clear in the absence of any pulse of justice or peace.

The two doctors handling this case are not qualified, namely Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Arafat. Both of them, regardless of their intentions or passions, are proven failures.

Arafat could never spell out to his people clear goals about their long-awaited independent state or form a strategy to serve these goals; he promised things he knew he could never deliver--in particular, controlling the Palestinian elements who oppose his projects.

The only clear-cut statement the Palestinians heard was about Jerusalem being the eternal, indivisible capital of Israel.

Arafat failed to offer his people any inspiration. He keeps oscillating in a love-hate, tough-soft relationship with his opposition. The Palestinians who are bused in and out of the occupied territories each day (when they are open) are bewildered by the autocracy, corruption, and false grandeur of the Palestinian Authority.

Arafat is unable to lead or offer solutions at this critical time. He is losing the support of the street, the acquiescence of the Palestinian opposition and the trust of the Israeli government.

In Netanyahu’s case, the failure is even clearer. Since he became prime minister, it has been one disaster after another. He stuck a dagger in the heart of the Oslo agreement by abdicating its principles. He angered Muslims and Christians by expanding settlements in East Jerusalem. He agitated one-fifth of the inhabitants of the globe, the Muslims, by blasting the notorious tunnel exit next to the walls of the Al Aqsa mosque and by insisting on the occupation of south Lebanon. Each one of these steps came with its heavy price of lost lives and bloodshed.

Recently, Lebanese television illustrated the absurdity of the Middle East: Hezbollah and the Israelis are reportedly negotiating to exchange body parts of Israeli commandos killed during their incursion into Lebanon for Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails. In the same broadcast, Netanyahu stated that he will not withdraw his occupying troops from south Lebanon because he does not want the Lebanese to invade Israel. He wants to convince everyone that the Israeli army is in Lebanon not as a card to be used in any future negotiations with Syria or as a spearhead for expansion or as a muscle to control sources of water from the Litani River, but to protect the security of Israel.

Now, while we are in the midst of one of those breaks between episodes of violence, is an appropriate time to fire the doctors and hire new ones.

There is nothing that Arafat and Netanyahu can offer to alleviate this crisis. They should excuse themselves or be excused.

There is no doubt that a new Palestinian team with more credibility and ability can be democratically elected by the Palestinians in the territories and in the diaspora. There are leaders like Haidar Abdel-Shafi or Hanan Mikhail-Ashrawi and others of the same caliber who can fill the void. They have proved themselves in their conviction and passion for a peaceful solution.

There is also no doubt that an Israel without Netanyahu will have greater potential for acceptance in the quest for peace.

Is this achievable? Yes. I believe that if the U.S. government says that we will only talk to a new team, and we promise honest brokerage, then things will change.