Peace Without Justice

By Abu al-Sous (Salah Mansour)*

Since the inception of the Zionists movement, its founders and the Western Powers proclaimed that if Arabs accepted the Zionist vision (which aims to turn Palestine to a "Jewish majority state"), then "peace", prosperity, and democracy shall follow soon after. Paradoxically, what happened on the ground has been the complete the opposite. It should be noted that up to this date, all Arab countries who accepted the Western version of "peace" and recognized the "Jewish state" have become * more repressive against their own people,
* have the best intelligence services and torture centers the West can to offer,
* their democracy is almost non-existent at all levels, and
* their economies cannot survive without foreign aid.

Because this version of "peace" ignores that facts that the Palestinian people have been ethnically cleansed and dispossessed of their homeland, it's extremely unpopular among Arabs. Consequently, Western Powers have resorted to all sorts of methods to impose this version of "peace" on Arab regimes, and as a result repression and corruption have reached unprecedented levels. The examples in the Arab World are too many to enumerate, especially in the occupied West Bank and Egypt.

Such a version of "peace" requires the West and Israel to continuously shore up corrupt Arab regimes to prolong the unpopular "peace" treaties with Israel, and without corruption and repression these unpopular treaties won't last for a day. As repression and corruption increases, these Arab regimes become even more unpopular which entails even more sustainable repression and corruption. This vicious circle of repression and corruption (which are required to sustain this version of "peace") has become a kind of a ponzi or a pyramid scheme that will eventually crumble under its own weight. If history can be a judge, this version of "peace" (which is based on usurping Palestinian national rights) will be a curse on the Arab regimes and people who choose it as their path. In that respect, it is helpful to point out that even David Ben-Gurion (the first Israeli Prime Minister) recognized that peace without justice is simply impossible, he stated in 1919:

"Everybody sees the problem in the relations between the Jews and the Arabs. But not everybody sees that there's no solution to it. There is no solution! . . . The conflict between the interests of the Jews and the interests of the Arabs in Palestine cannot be resolved by sophisms. I don't know any Arabs who would agree to Palestine being ours---even if we learn Arabic . . .and I have no need to learn Arabic. On the other hand, I don't see why 'Mustafa' should learn Hebrew. . . . There's a national question here. We want the country to be ours. The Arabs want the country to be theirs." (One Palestine Complete, p. 116)

Similarly, Ze'ev Jabotinsky (one of the most influential Zionists leaders) recognized that Arabs will accept Zionist vision only by the force of arms, he stated in his famous iron wall article in 1923:

".... Settlement can thus develop under the protection of a force that is not dependent on the local population, behind an iron wall which they will be powerless to break down. ....a voluntary agreement is just not possible. As long as the Arabs preserve a gleam of hope that they will succeed in getting rid of us, nothing in the world can cause them to relinquish this hope, precisely because they are not a rubble but a living people. And a living people will be ready to yield on such fateful issues only when they give up all hope of getting rid of the Alien Settlers. Only then will extremist groups with their slogan 'No, never' lose their influence, and only then their influence be transferred to more moderate groups. And only then will the moderates offer suggestions for compromise. Then only will they begin bargaining with us on practical matters, such as guarantees against pushing them out, and equality of civil, and national rights."

"Peace" without justice for the Palestinian people is equivalent to some kind of a financial transaction between individuals not people. The Palestinian people are a patient people and like all people eager for a justice peace; they shall wait for the day when a just and lasting peace comes.

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Our DATE is 60 years LATE, God willing sooner or later we shall return.
* Salah Mansour is the founder and editor of PalestineRemembered.com, the largest Palestinian online community.