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.