Do not give Israel the excuse to continue violence

Do not give Israel the excuse to continue violence

The United States has presented a "road map" to achieve peace
in the Middle East and a Palestinian state by 2005. Former
foreign minister Ali Alatas discussed his views about the
initiative with The Jakarta Post's Kornelius Purba. An excerpt of
the interview follows.

Question: What are your expectations from the issuance of the
"road map"?

Answer: The announcement of the "road map" and the map itself
should be welcome because it will not only bring us closer,
hopefully, to the solution of the Palestinian-Israeli issue, but
will, to a large extent, diffuse the feelings of anger,
frustration and sense of injustice, not only in Palestine but
also in the entire region and the world at large. So that is its
significance: the road map has now been published and is being
implemented at last.

The content -- which, I'm sure can be much improved -- is also
quite a realistic, performance-based plan to move toward the two-
step solution. Finally, there is recognition, explicit
recognition from the U.S. that the only viable solution is to
give the Palestinians their own state, to recognize their rights
to their own state, and for Palestinians and Israelis to live
side by side, on the basis of 336 (UN Resolution) ... but with
secure borders.

But now, what continues to be of concern to me, is that it is
Israel that, from the very beginning, had some problems with
this. Many perhaps may not know, but this document was quietly
and informally submitted to the Palestinians and Israelis several
months ago, so they knew in advance what it would contain.

First, they asked for changes before it was published. At
least on that score, I think the road map did accommodate their
demand: It was published the way it was drafted.

Second, it is not a U.S. proposal alone. It is proposal by a
quartet, drafted by the U.S., Russia, the Europe Union and the
UN. So, four parties are involved. And four parties will be
involved in its implementation.

It has always been Israel that has had problems. It said that
it was willing to start implementing it, but you will have to see
whether that turns out to be the case, because until now, it is
still acting in a somewhat belligerent manner.

The road map can only be implemented if violence stops on both
sides, apart from others things that need to be done. On the part
of the Palestinians, they now already have a prime minister, and,
in the face of great difficulties, have already formed a new
cabinet. This is in accordance with the road map. The appointment
of a new prime minister and a new government by the Palestinians
was not part of conditions, but was part of the road map. But it
was made a condition by the U.S.

The new Palestinian prime minister has a hard task to stop all
attacks by Palestinians, but the Israelis have to put a stop to
all these settlements. They have to withdraw from certain areas
of the territory. At stage one, they must already withdraw and we
have to watch very carefully how they implement it.

But we should remain hopeful, because this is an initiative by
four sides, not only the Americans, who are, perhaps, more liable
to change their minds under pressure from Israel.

Do you believe that President George W. Bush is able to
pressure the Israelis to abide by his new policy?

We hope so, because the Israeli government needs to be
pressured, otherwise it won't change. It has to stick to this, to
at least fulfill the requirements on its part regarding what is
contained in the road map. And this is a five-phase solution. In
phases one and two there are timelines with clear target dates
and benchmarks that can be checked. That is for the world to do,
to watch very carefully and to be proactive in persuading both
sides and the mediating powers to ensure that the road map is
implemented.

What problems do the Palestinian's see in implementing this
policy?

Their problem, primarily, is how to persuade their more
militant factions to cease immediately, for the time being, their
military actions, and put faith in the peaceful, negotiated
process of the road map. This is the big task that is being faced
by Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas -- how he will
succeed in telling the more militant factions to stop for the
time being, and not provide the Israeli government with an excuse
to continue its violence and action against Palestinians.

Might the current situation in Iraq become the impetus to
resolving the Palestinian problem?

Not directly, but what has happened in Iraq -- the aftermath
of the American attack -- will have a profound, overall impact on
the whole Middle East situation. In that sense, what has happened
in Iraq will also have an influence on Palestinian-Israeli talks
and the solution of outstanding Israel-Arab issues, such as the
Golan Heights with Syria, and with Lebanon.

It will have an impact, but how direct we don't know yet. But
psychologically it also has an impact. So many things will, with
the consequence of what is happening in Iraq, also much depend on
how it further develops. For the sake of American interests, it
is better to give the UN a chance to be substantively involved,
not only in humanitarian aspects but also on how temporarily to
run Iraq, how temporarily to get the reconstruction process
going.

Do you think that Arab countries can be united in facing their
enemy, Israel?

We hope that as a result of what happens in Iraq they will be
more united. I do hope that they will see that it is their
disunity that has caused many problems to remain unresolved in
the Middle East. Therefore, for the Arab League the primary task
will be to restore harmony and unity so that they can really play
a decisive role in the affairs of their own region.

How about the role of OIC (the Organization of the Islamic
Conference)?

OIC, in the past, has not been very impressive in achieving
its stated goals, both politically and economically. The only
time that OIC really played an active role was during the Bosnia
and Kosovo conflict. We hope it can play a role but we haven't
seen any signs yet. With the chairmanship at the summit level
moving to Malaysia, non-Arab OIC member countries will have an
opportunity to exert a greater influence on the decisions of OIC.

With Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as the chairman
of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and OIC, do you think the two
groups can do more on Palestine?

Prime Minister Mahathir and Malaysia are, of course, great. It
is great to lead the NAM as well as OIC, but given the size and
the enormity of the problem, of course we have to pray that NAM
as well as OIC can contribute substantially.

How can Indonesia itself play a role?

We should continue to be active, of course, in NAM, in the UN
and in this groupings of countries having the same basic
objectives. In Indonesia, of course, we have big problems, big
internal problems that have to be resolved, but that should not
prevent us also from actively contributing to an international
situation in a way that is still amenable to our objective to
perform our own constitutional duties. So, we shouldn't say,
"because we have our own difficulties -- yes we have a big one,
we still have Aceh -- let others get on with it." I think that
would be a mistake.