Part 2 of 2 : How Bush could recover Muslims' support<\/p>\n
Jusuf Wanandi, Member, Board of Trustees Centre for Strategic and
\nInternational Studies (CSIS), Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia's support to the Palestinians is based on the
\nPreamble of the 1945 Constitution, which states: Whereas
\nindependence is the natural right of every nation, colonialism
\nmust be abolished in this world because it is not in conformity
\nwith humanity and justice.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has been supporting the right of self-determination
\nof Palestine since the early 1950s, after Indonesia's
\nindependence was completed with the recognition by the Dutch in
\n1949.<\/p>\n
In the last two decades or so, there has been a revival of
\nIslam, due, among other reasons, to the success of the
\nOrganization of Petroleum Exporting Country's boycott in 1974,
\nwhich brought a lot of money to the Saudis, and because of the
\nIranian Revolution led by Khomeini in 1977. Since then an Islamic
\nawareness and solidarity has arisen among Muslims everywhere,
\nincluding in Indonesia. With this awareness greater attention is
\nalso given to the plight of the Palestinians.<\/p>\n
Due to globalization and the widespread penetration of the
\nelectronic media, this awareness has grown in the last decade and
\nhas brought about a self-identification and strong symbolic
\nmeaning to Muslims worldwide.<\/p>\n
Every night in their living room they can see through CNN, Al
\nJazeera or the BBC how the Palestinians are being abused,
\ndiscriminated against, and treated unjustly.<\/p>\n
These all have created great despair among their youth. They
\nidentify that feeling with the plight of Muslims in general since
\nthey themselves have experienced colonization and discrimination
\nfor the last 200 years or so.<\/p>\n
There is no greater symbol or stronger self-identification for
\nMuslims worldwide than the plight of the Palestinians. In their
\nview the U.S. is backing Israel to the extreme because of U.S.
\ndomestic policies and efforts to make Israel the most important
\nU.S. strategic partner in the Middle East. They believe that
\nbecause of the full backing by the U.S., Israel behaves so
\narrogantly and aggressively and is unwilling to reach out to the
\nPalestinians for a compromise.<\/p>\n
It could well be that if the Israel-Palestine conflict could
\nbe resolved in the future, the extremist-cum-terrorists among the
\nMuslims will look for another excuse to confront the U.S., Israel
\nand the West. But, even if that is the case, the intensity and
\nwidespread support for any other issue will never be as strong as
\non the Israel-Palestine conflict, and will have a more limited
\nimpact on Muslims worldwide.<\/p>\n
It should be noted that U.S. policies are not always in favor
\nof Israel. And in some instances, U.S. presidents such as Carter,
\nBush Sr., and Clinton tried very hard to put pressures on Israel
\nto be willing to compromise.<\/p>\n
Sometimes they did succeed to push the process for peace,
\nespecially if there are strong leaders on both sides of the
\nconflict that are brave enough to compromise politically, such as
\nthe case of President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister
\nMenachem Begin of Israel.<\/p>\n
The Camp David meeting under the auspices of President Jimmy
\nCarter has made it possible for Egypt and Israel to normalize
\ntheir bilateral diplomatic relations, and resulted in the
\nwithdrawal of Israel from the Sinai, which was returned to Egypt
\nfollowing the agreement.<\/p>\n
The Oslo Agreement, supported by Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin,
\nShimon Peres and Yasser Arafat, has opened the way for an
\nimportant peace-process, although the toughest parts were left
\nunresolved and became a real hindrance for peace.<\/p>\n
These included the problem of the final status of Jerusalem,
\nthe limitation on Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and the
\nright of return of Palestinian diaspora to their former land.
\nArafat never made it clear to the Palestinians about the
\ncompromises that needed to be made to find a solution with the
\nIsraelis.<\/p>\n
The process was halted because of the demise of Yitzak Rabin
\nby a bullet of a Jewish extremist. President Bush Sr. was
\ninstrumental to push for the peace process through the so-called
\nMadrid Conference, that took place after the first Iraq War ended
\nin 1992.<\/p>\n
The third effort was made by President Clinton nearing the end
\nof his term at the Wye River Meeting between Arafat and Prime
\nMinister Ehud Barak in 1989. Although it seemed to have nearly
\nreached a resolution, the outstanding issues could not be
\novercome. President Clinton ran out of time and could not push
\nfor a final resolution.<\/p>\n
At the Aqaba Meeting, following the failure of the Wye River,
\nwhich aimed at saving whatever could be saved, both sides at the
\nlower level of officialdom tried to come up with compromises.<\/p>\n
These compromises were used as the basis for the Geneva Accord
\nby private initiatives involving civil society and former
\nofficials from Israel and Palestine about one month ago.<\/p>\n
This was a very brave initiative and in fact demonstrates the
\ndetermination of the part of both peoples and societies to
\nachieve peace and development for both the Israeli state and
\nPalestine state to be. However, the government of Israel under
\nSharon is not willing to move forward, and the initiative only
\nreceived lukewarm support from the Arafat camp.<\/p>\n
President Bush Jr., of course, was the first U.S. President
\nthat proposed a Palestine independent state and together with the
\nUN, EU and Russia had pushed for a roadmap towards a resolution
\nof the conflict. Again, this did not go very far, because
\nextremists on both sides sabotaged the effort.<\/p>\n
Many Muslims thought that President Bush was not pushing for
\nthe roadmap strong enough. That message was conveyed to him by
\nthe Indonesian Muslim leaders that met with him in Bali several
\nmonths ago.<\/p>\n
The message seemed to have some impact. If President Bush can
\nmove the roadmap in cooperation with the other three sponsors,
\nalbeit step by step because it is such a complex problem, then
\nthe support for him among Muslims worldwide could be somewhat
\nrecovered.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Indonesians -- be they Muslims or not --
\nshould give support to the roadmap and the Geneva accord to
\nachieve a peaceful resolution to a conflict that is so deep
\nseated and debilitating to all.<\/p>",
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