Jan-Feb 2000 Issue No.59
The new century opens on a troubled Middle East. The American-brokered
"peace process" appears to be on the verge of roping in Syria, last and
most stubborn of Israel's immediate neighbors. Yakov Ben Efrat explores
the factors that have broken the resolve of Hafez al-Assad, leading him
into a Peace of the Weak.
On the Palestinian front, there is a glimmer of hope. For the first time since Yasser Arafat entered his peace of the weak, twenty leaders from inside the Territories have issued a manifesto against him and Oslo. Thus The Hidden Consensus, writes Roni Ben Efrat, at last Finds a Voice. We go on to observe how The PA, in panic, Strikes Back. One of the signers, Dr. Adel Samara - who found himself under PA arrest in the same Ramallah jail where the Israelis had held him for years - reflects on the Lessons of the Manifesto. Michal Schwartz visits another signer, Ahmad Qatamesh, likewise a veteran of Israeli (today Palestinian) jails. Qatamesh maintains that Without Self-criticism, a Society Cannot Develop.
In response to the manifesto, many are demanding new elections. Within the framework of Oslo, however - as we argue in our editorial - elections cannot make a significant difference. Back in Israel, Hadas Lahav explores The Politics of Olive Oil, the sole agricultural branch that remains in Arab hands. Given will power, ingenuity and organization, the branch can be made to blossom again. There is blossoming, too, every Thursday in Jaffa, when artists of the Baqa Center work with local children to transform the poorest of materials into a Garden of Dreams.
To wrap it all up, Asma Agbarieh reports on the Fourth Convention of
the ODA, which discussed a major position paper on The Palestinian Question
in the Age of Globalization.
Readers are invited to comment.
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