April 2, 2009: Rebooting the Peace Process (cont'd)

The News:

• 'Dozens of Israeli jets and drones attacked in Sudan', Haaretz March 31, 2009
• Netanyahu: Israel seeks lasting peace with Arabs, Haaretz March 31, 2009

Two years ago:

1. Joseph Stiglitz, The High Cost of the Iraq War (Berkeley - Economists' Voice, March 2006)
2. Editorial: Honest debate on the Mideast, The Capital Times (Madison, WI), (retrieved online March 25, 2006)
3. Bush's Requests for Iraqi Base Funding Make Some Wary of Extended Stay, LA Times, March 25, 2006
4. Bush Was Set on Path to War, Memo by British Adviser Says (NYT, March 27, 2006)
5. Colonization of Palestine precludes peace, op-ed by Jimmy Carter, Haaretz, March 17, 2006
6. GERSHOM GORENBERG, Israel's Tragedy Foretold (op-ed, NYT March 10, 2006)
7. Israel's uncertain election, The Economist, March 27, 2006
8. Islam's Resistance Movement, by Georges Corm, Le Monde diplomatique, March 2006)
9. question: do you see any common theme shared by items 3, 5, and 6 above?
10. AIPAC supporter's rebuttal against Mersheimer and Walt: Harvey Sicherman on the Israel Lobby

• Counterpunch commentary on US massacres in Iraq by Omar Barghouty

1. Influence in Iraq Emerges as Key Issue as Arab Conference Opens (NYT March 29, 2006)
2. Beleaguered Premier Warns U.S. to Stop Interfering in Iraq's Politics (NYT March 30, 2006)
3. Not With a Bang but a Pop (concerning the Israeli elections, NYT March 30, 2006)

Rebooting the Peace Process?

• A LAST CHANCE FOR A TWO-STATE ISRAEL-PALESTINE AGREEMENT: A Bipartisan Statement on U.S. Middle East Peacemaking
  • does the issue distract from more critical challenges of terrorism, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran...?
  • imposition of peace by an outside party?
  • domestic US politics constraints - Israel Lobby?
    • sequel to salon.com article: Can American Jews unplug the Israel lobby? , March 20, 2007
    • J Street featuring new March 2009 poll showing most American Jews favor a more proactive US policy.
• The major issues (from last class):
  • two states' borders:
    • View maps of the occupied territories - West Bank and Gaza and E. Jerusalem at the Foundation for Middle East Peace.
    • Here is B'tselem's latest (Feb 2008) map about the Wall/Security Barrier being erected by the Israelis.
    • Here is departing Prime Minister Olmert's suggested compromise map.
  • Jerusalem - Jerusalem Facts and Figures - changing demographics - contested Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif
  • future of Israeli settlements - settler populations 1972-2007
  • future of Palestinian refugees: "right of return"?
  • demography - CIA Factbook: Israel / WB-Gaza-East Jerusalem - here are the demographics
    • Jews are not in the majority of historic Palestine, all of which is controlled by Israel
    • If Gaza could somehow be separated off from the rest of hostoric Palestine, Jews would be the majority in Israel and the occupied West Bank but will still lose their majority in 20 years.
    • What then, without a two-state solution, are the prospects for a Jewsish state of Israel?
• Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, Survey of Israelis and Palestinians, 12-17 March 2008. Survey of Palestinian refugees' preferences concerning Israel (July 2003). March 5-7, 2009 PCPSR poll press release
• Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research: Peace Index and latest Oct 2005 and Feb 2007 poll and Feb 2009 poll
• Facts on the ground: the West Bank "Separation Barrier" - cutting off some 10% of the occupied territory and a majority of the 250,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem along with an additional 35,000 Palestinians outside the city - and surrounding many more (source: Internal Displacement Monitoring Center - Norway)
  • Israeli settlers' plan for Palestinian autonomy
  • Post-1967 Jerusalem: Compromising Palestinian Jerusalem (maps from the Foundation for Middle East Peace)

---

April 2, 2009

Department of Government, College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas at Austin.

Questions, Comments, and Suggestions to chenry@mail.utexas.edu