December 10, 2012: The only path to peace remains direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians

By Michael Regenstreif

On November 29, 1947, with the British Mandate for Palestine drawing to a close, the United Nations (UN) voted to partition the area into two states: the Jewish State of Israel and an Arab Palestinian state.

The partition was accepted by the Jews, who declared Israel’s independence on May 14, 1948, and rejected by the Palestinian Arabs with the support of the surrounding Arab states, which attacked the nascent Jewish state en masse in Israel’s War of Independence.

We can only speculate on how differently the Middle East would have developed, and how different today’s Middle East would be, had the Palestinians accepted the UN partition plan. So many wars, so many acts of terrorism, so much retaliation – all with their tragic death tolls – could well have been avoided over the past 65 years. Think of all the resources that could have been deployed elsewhere and all the human suffering and all the hatred that could have been avoided.

On November 29, 2012, the 65th anniversary of the UN partition plan that led to the creation of the State of Israel, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to recognize Palestine – under the administration of the Palestinian Authority (PA) – as a non-member observer state, a move which MP Irwin Cotler, a former minister of justice and attorney general of Canada, and one of the world’s leading international human rights lawyers, points out violates numerous UN resolutions providing frameworks for peace as well as bilateral Israeli-Palestinian agreements, including 1995’s Oslo II accord, which states “neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the Permanent Status negotiations.” (“An affront to the peace process, and to international law,” National Post, November 30)

That the UN General Assembly would vote in favour of this measure was never in doubt. After all, in that forum, the votes of Syria and Iran carry the same weight in the tally as the United States and Canada.

Israel, to be sure, opposed the Palestinian plan for this UN recognition, believing the only path to peace and Palestinian statehood is through direct negotiations without preconditions. And Israel’s strongest support in that position came from the United States and Canada.

A few other major democracies, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and the Netherlands, took a wishy-washy approach and abstained, while others, including many countries that have relatively good relations with Israel such as France, Italy, Spain and Greece, voted in favour of the Palestinian bid.

Canada’s reaction was swift. Foreign Minister John Baird quickly announced Canada will mount a full review of our relationship with the PA.

“Canada is proud of the support it has provided to improve the stability and security of the Palestinian society. Yesterday’s unilateral action does nothing to further the Middle East peace process. It will not change the reality on the streets of the West Bank or Gaza. This unilateral step is an impediment to peace,” Baird said on November 30. “We again call on the Palestinian Authority and Israel to return to negotiations, without preconditions, for the good of their people.”

While the results of the review will almost surely not be known by the time you read this column, the consequences for the Palestinians could be significant with Canada’s five-year, $300 million aid package to the PA about to expire. As well, there are moves afoot in the U.S. Congress to slash American financial support to the Palestinians in reaction to their move at the UN.

What does the UN measure realistically mean?

Most significantly, it might add to Palestinian status in UN agencies or give them enhanced status at the International Criminal Court. But, as Baird, American UN Ambassador Susan Rice, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have all pointed out, nothing really changes on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza. The only way to peace and to real Palestinian statehood is through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. And the only way for those negotiations to take place is for the PA to come to the table without preconditions – something they’ve been unwilling to do over the past four years.

And let us not forget that, although the UN has recognized the PA as the government in the West Bank and Gaza, it has no practical authority in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, a terrorist organization opposed to the peace process and to the existence of the State of Israel.

April 27, 2009: Ettinger’s attack on Obama was off base

By Michael Regenstreif

I was taken by surprise when I read Diane Koven’s page 1 report on the speech made by retired Israeli diplomat Yoram Ettinger at the Passover luncheon hosted by Canadian Friends of Hebrew University on April 14. According to Ettinger, Barack Obama is the first-ever American president who “does not emanate from the common Judeo-Christian background ... the first president who does not come from that school of thought.”

When I told Diane how shocked I was at Ettinger’s comment, she told me that my shock was shared by many in the room that day at Agudath Israel. It’s common knowledge that Obama grew up a Christian, that he’s never practised any other religion. The ‘Obama is a Muslim’ canard that was used as a scare tactic during the campaign has been thoroughly discredited. As for the “Judeo” part of his values, Obama has talked about how influenced he has been by Jewish concepts of social justice. And, just this month, Obama became the first sitting president in American history to host a Passover seder in the White House.

Diane’s report goes on to discuss Ettinger’s concern that several key officials in the Obama administration do not understand Israel or are openly hostile. Ettinger mentions Susan Rice, Obama’s UN ambassador and James Jones, his national security adviser.

I was surprised to see Rice’s name mentioned in that context. After the election, JTA had a story about Obama’s national security team being dominated by pro-Israel figures. Susan Rice was the first name mentioned. In her confirmation hearings, Rice discussed how unfairly Israel has been treated at the UN.

As for Jones, there have been references to him in a couple of JTA pieces published while Benjamin Netanyahu was putting together his new coalition government.

“Insiders argue Netanyahu’s bottom-up approach to Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking parallels that of General James Jones, Obama’s national security adviser. Both have said in recent interviews that they favour building infrastructure before advancing to final-status talks,” said one article.

“Netanyahu heralded his relationships and meetings with U.S. figures from President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to national security adviser James Jones and special Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell,” said the other.

In her report, Diane quotes Ettinger as saying Obama regards the Arab-Israeli conflict as the root cause of Middle Eastern turbulence. When I searched to find any record of Obama saying something along those lines, all I could find was Ettinger’s own pronouncements to that effect. In fact, in looking through countless reports of what Obama has had to say about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, I could find nothing inconsistent with moderate Zionism.

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I attended the Free Thinking Film Society’s screening of the film, The Case for Israel featuring Alan Dershowitz, on April 13 at Library and Archives Canada. Always a compelling speaker, Dershowitz eloquently shows how support for Israel – and the two-state solution – is the only logical choice when looking at the Palestinian-Israeli conflict from a human rights perspective.

This film should be seen by everyone involved in Israel advocacy at any level. The film society’s Fred Litwin has a license to show the film in Ottawa through the end of 2009 and organizations or schools who’d like to arrange a screening can contact him at fred.litwin@gmail.com.