ARABS AND ISRAELI ATTITUDES

...Needless to say, this approach does not recognize the notion of "true" or "lasting" peace but only the peace deriving from ad hoc settlements...

...At the same time firmness is shown in seeking out the terrorists and punishing those who assist them...

...But the contrary is true...

...Ideally the Muslims conceive their position visavis the non-Muslims and the world of foreigners at large as one of supremacy...

...It is indeed our duty to give an 335 ideological reply expressing the viewpoints acceptable to us...

...This is the purpose that governs the various moves made by Zionist policy...

...Occasionally we hear in our midst voices saying that even theoretically, as a matter of ideology, no solution-by-agreement to the conflict is possible...

...for there is another honorable national way open to me...

...The very fact that we are able to put forward the possibility of a solution, therefore, has the greatest relevance for us concerning the way we see ourselves and the view we take of the validity of our arguments against the Arab charges...

...V OBVIOUSLY, at this stage the Palestinian Solution can only be a statement of intentions rather than operational policy...

...But in reality the two horns of the dilemma are by no means equally balanced...

...On that occasion the Muslim forces, numbering about 300, vanquished their foes, whose strength amounted to 950 men...

...The author is a senior lecturer in Arabic literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem...

...The proclamation of support for a Palestinian Solution would not be a substitute for positive and practical activity in the areas concerned: its intention is to offer a conception that would give that activity direction and meaning...

...Thus their emotional link with Jerusalem is quite naturally even stronger than with Mecca...

...III IF WE ARE to come to grips with the Arab ideological approach, we must first understand how the Arabs picture us...

...But let me first define the meaning I assign to that term...

...The heroes of Arab nationalism are the heroes of Islam, e.g., the Prophet Muhammad, the Caliph Omar, and the great general Saladin...

...We have to reaffirm to ourselves that Zionism does not necessarily lead to the destruction of another people...

...Moreover, Israelis a state that was set up by a small and weak nation—a nation that, according to the Muslim conception, ought to be suffering humiliation and is destined to be a tolerated minority in the Muslim state...

...The principle of partition, which has been accepted by the majority of the Zionist movement, is a moral principle...

...It is possible that a relatively moderate point of view expressed by some Arab does not seem to us at first glance to be noticeably different from the extreme Arab position...

...As long ago as the days of Ottoman rule, members of these families occupied government posts, and their sons were sent to fulfill religious and judicial functions in the Arab-populated territories of the Ottoman Empire...

...Would this in itself bring us further along the path to a solution...

...The modernists amongst the Muslims maintained that the way to put things right was to acquire Western technology, especially in the military sphere: to learn from the West in order to be able to vie with it...

...whereas now that it is actually in our hands, we are no longer prepared to give up a square inch of it...

...Indeed, one sometimes has the impression that, in order to make up for their omissions in the sphere of religious practice and traditional belief, they cling all the more jealously to the myth of Islamic greatness...

...The encounter with modern civilization led to a diminution of the influence of religion in Arab society...

...It is maintained in some quarters that their attitude is caused by the fact that during the first few months after the Six-Day War the Israeli government evinced no real interest in the Palestinian option...

...I also make a clear distinction between the announcement of support for the Palestinian Solution and the execution of the plan in practice...

...This belief was shaken, however, as a result of the violent impact of the West, which led to the conquest of several Muslim countries by Christian powers...

...333 North Africa since the end of the Second World War, the emergence of the so-called progressive regimes, and the undertaking of development projects—all these have created in the minds of many Arabs the belief—or maybe the new illusion—that history is once again reverting to its proper course, from which it had been deflected...

...for it is from this that the various Arab ideologies emanate...

...This is the true aspiration of Zionism, and the Zionists have always intended—and still intend—to achieve it by displacing and/or subjugating the Arab population...

...The proposed Palestinian Solution furnishes our war with a positive goal...

...For that very reason it is worth our while to present this idea publicly...

...A cursory investigation into the question is enough to show that "the great Arab Homeland," stretching from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf, is virtually a modern version of the traditional concept of Dar al-Islam (i.e., the area governed by Muslim rulers...

...In this connection an important rule has to be borne in mind, namely, that a moderate expression of Arab views is significant when addressed to an Arab audience, whereas if it is uttered in English or French to a visiting foreign statesman or journalist, it has to be scrutinized carefully to make sure that it is not just a propaganda move or tactical gambit...

...Israel has not only torn off a piece of Arab Homeland but has imposed its government on Muslims and repeatedly defeated Arab armies...

...Owing to the peculiar concatenation of historical circumstances in this country, the places that are sacred and dear to us are also sacred and dear to the local Arabs...

...He writes that, although he is a Christian, as an Arab national he identifies himself with Muslim history, since the Arabs became welded into a nation within the framework of Islam...

...We have to state openly that we recognize the Palestinian Arab people and its right to achieve nationhood within the framework of a peace settlement with us, while safeguarding our own vital interests...

...In order to understand the Arab position we have to dig down to the fundamental level of Arab collective consciousness...

...No better authority could be quoted on these points than Michel 'Aflaq, the Christian ideologist of the Ba'th movement...

...In other words, I am advocating a Palestinian Solution...

...and second, in order that we may correctly assess expressions of readiness to compromise on the part of the Arabs, if and when they are voiced...

...Jerusalem occupies the position of the third holiest sanctuary in Islam in the consciousness of all Muslims...

...First and foremost, however, the Palestinian Solution should be considered from the Jewish point of view itself...

...From the end of the last century, in particular, Muslim intellectuals have been forced to acknowledge that in fact their peoples, far from being victorious, had become weak, and that their weakness derived from their backwardness in many spheres...

...The ideologists of al-Fath take great pains to prove, by means of pseudohistorical researches, that the Jews are not a nation...

...II THE ESTABLISHMENT of the State of Israel put a cruel end to this Arab illusion...

...It is the members of the notable families, who, above all, have concrete ties with the Arab world at large—in the shape of financial investments, trade connections, and relatives in high government posts...

...Their idea of us can perhaps best be described as a caricature of our attitude...

...The Muslims' belief that they belong to a victorious people has not been questioned for centuries...

...Hence these leaders and notables find it very hard to choose a course that would be bound to arouse fierce opposition in the Arab capitals...

...Thus, in addition to the outlook common to all Muslims, we have to reckon, in the case of the Palestinian Arabs, with a special emotional involvement that exacerbates their quarrel with us...

...Hence it would seem to follow that the Arab case is not to be condemned in principle on moral grounds...

...The military government in the occupied areas 336 acts on the basis of certain simple and sound principles...

...As a rule the paths of their own individual careers lie through various Arab capitals...

...Hatf, however, is in itself a word and denotes death, specifically natural death, i.e., not in the field of battle...

...Arab, or Pan-Arab, nationalism is in fact founded upon the myth of Islam...

...This realistic appraisal was in direct contradiction to their own self-image...

...The latter are therefore confronted presumably with the dilemma of choosing between the lesser of evils: obeying the terrorists or the Israeli authorities...

...or rather it led to a decline in religious dogmas...

...It is distressing to see that we now have in our midst writers and political leaders who are making great efforts to prove, by means of pseudohistorical or pseudosociological arguments, that the Palestinian Arabs never were a nation and cannot possibly ever be one...

...Indeed, when they awoke to the recognition of their weakness in relation to the European nations, they regarded it as a terrible distortion of history, a distortion that threatened their very identity as a collective unless they succeeded in regaining their lost greatness...

...Its implementation cannot come about solely as the result of proclamations on our part...

...According to them the Zionist aim is to establish a great Jewish empire stretching from the Euphrates to the Nile...

...This may help to explain the emotional involvement of Arabs in places far away from Israel like Tunisia, Libya, and Iraq in the Palestine issue...

...Obviously, articles and speeches in this vein will have no effect whatever in altering the Palestinian Arabs' feelings or the course of their activities...

...It seems to me highly important to recognize this aspect of Arab national consciousness for two reasons: first, so as to prevent our fostering any illusions that it is easy to effect changes in the Arab attitude, or that the issues involved are merely political in character...

...It could be argued that this was an illusion...

...Their reasoning is very clear...

...Here I should like to add a word about the nature of that activity...

...But my own view is that there are intrinsic reasons for their reluctant attitude bound up with the social character of this particular leadership...

...The value of the Palestinian Solution from the Jewish point of view is that we shall not assume the distorted image that our enemies attribute to us...

...Hence the above-mentioned principles applied by the military government, though morally justified, and indeed necessary, are nevertheless insufficient...

...The answer is, Yes...

...Their links with the Arab world as a whole are even stronger and more involved than they seem, since they extend over many generations...

...It is not enough, however, to describe and analyze the Arab position: we also have to ask ourselves what ideological line of thought we should pursue in view of the Arab attitude...

...for that part is not just any area within the domain of Islam, such as a border territory in Kazakhstan or Eritrea: it is a country with a very special status in the Muslim tradition...

...Some Israelis go so far as to say that the Arabs are in fact right in their contention that Zionism is founded upon dispossession, but that for us it is necessary to our very existence...

...nevertheless, this is an aspect that should not be lightly overlooked...

...An Israeli publication of the proposed Palestinian Solution may strengthen the international legitimization of our cause and help in creating a more favorable climate of public opinion toward us...

...Nevertheless, the very fact of its being put forward at this juncture can be of value from several points of view...

...Such publications can only be detrimental to us as they disseminate among our people misconceptions and false appraisals of the situation...

...In saying that Israel is seen as having taken away part of the Arab Homeland we do not convey the full gravity of the situation...

...True, there are nonMuslim minorities in the Arab countries, but their Arab nationality is predominantly Muslim in character...

...It is moral for the reason that it points the way to realize the national aspirations of both peoples through mutual concessions and by not being altogether unjust to either...

...But do we really want to play the game according to their rules and appear in the colors in which they choose to paint us...

...According to this view, the Six-Day War was planned in advance by the Zionists, who succeeded, by means of various international plots and stratagems, in luring the Arabs into a trap...

...It suits our enemies' book very well to represent us as extremists, as people thirsting for expansion...

...q 337...

...This success story became part of Islamic religious consciousness...

...but for the Palestinians it occupies a unique position as their own holy place...

...After all, they have a prior argument, namely, their claim that the Arabs have an absolute right to all Palestine...

...My answer to these questions is in the affirmative...

...For whoever claims rights for himself must be ready to acknowledge the rights of others: by failing to do so he undermines the moral basis of his claim...

...This has taken the form of agricultural guidance, the promotion of economic development and marketing of goods, and wise and tactful behavior (in most cases) on the part of the representatives of the military government vis-a-vis the heads of the religious institutions...

...These comprise fair and, as far as possible, humane behavior, and thus hold out a helping hand to the inhabitants in solving their everyday problems...

...It seems that they are nevertheless not quite so certain of the strength of their argument and that they consequently have need of a further argument to support it, viz, that not only have the Jews no share in Palestine because it belongs to the Arabs, but that the Jews are anyway not a people at all, hence they have ab initio no right to demand self-determination...

...the Arabs are the ones who have to wage war, since they have no alternative...

...In this context we regard the Arabs as Muslims, for in fact the Arab peoples (with the exception of Lebanon) are Muslim peoples...

...A Hebrew version appeared in the early '70s in the Israeli daily Davar...

...But they are renewable upon the termination of that period...

...We can only hope that the Fath's apprehensions are not groundless...

...But those Muslims who had been influenced by their contact with Western civilization adhered to the other aspect of Islam, that of militant nationalism and the myth of greatness...

...Hence the function of this theory is to justify Arab extremism and intransigence...

...These emotions are especially intense amongst the Arabs of Palestine...

...On the other hand, while one cannot say with certainty that more moderate utterances would demolish the Arab theory, they would certainly not buttress it...

...There are those in our midst who object to the Palestinian idea and claim that, as the Fath vehemently reject this kind of Palestinian Solution, it is foredoomed to failure...

...Many of its slogans are taken from the Koran and religious terminology...

...The military victory at Badr validated Muhammad's message, and that validation was repeatedly confirmed in a series of victories and conquests in the course of the first Islamic century...

...The Muslim outlook does not envisage the possibility of Muslims living permanently under non-Muslim rule...

...Hence it is obvious why the name Fath formed by reversing the letters was preferred...

...This outlook gives rise to the following paradox: the validity of the Islamic religion, in the consciousness of the Muslims themselves, depends upon the political and military might of the Muslim states...

...In articles written by Arabs on the Palestine issue nowadays, we come across phrases such as "if Israel continues to exist, Arabism will perish...

...We propose here to examine some of the beliefs underlying the Arabs' anti-Israel ideology, and to try and ascertain whether it is possible to find any openings through which their position can be penetrated...

...Some experts on international affairs might argue that "true" peace is a term that rightly belongs to the field of rhetoric rather than politics, and that in real situations peace is an arrangement that emerges from a balance of power...

...whereas if we take into account the change of values that had to take place in the mind of the Arab expressing such an attitude, we shall realize that this is a step in the required direction...

...In this view, it was not expressions of hatred or acts of terrorism on the part of the Arabs that exercised any real influence on Zionist policy or even on Israeli opinion: according to the Arabs, these only furnished excuses the Zionists seized upon to justify their expansionist activities...

...The same Arab theory, in a somewhat more sophisticated form, maintains that while the Zionists may not actually have engineered all the events that took place here during the past eight years, their aim was certainly well-defined, and that aim was expansion...

...Empirical realities led to the result that even the normative Muslim conception made provision for ending wars with non-Muslims...

...In order to sharpen and emphasize the distinction between a demonstrative proclamation of support for the Palestinian Solution and the implementation of that idea, let me state one of the difficulties besetting its path...

...In the territory west of the Jordan, for example, over 90 percent of the population are Muslims...

...Islam not only promises its believers that they will inherit paradise in the hereafter: it promises them that they will be part of a victorious people in this world as well...

...Whenever circumstances were favorable, the Zionists moved forward and made further conquests...

...To borrow the traditional words of the Jewish sages of old: we are not required to complete the task, but neither are we free to desist from it...

...This view—and it is widely accepted among the Arabs—states that people like Scheib and Beigin are the ones who represent the true spirit of Zionism, whereas the other leaders are hypocrites who, for tactical reasons, hide their expansionist intentions under a cloak of cunning and deceit...

...For these Arab notables, members of the great families of Nablus and Jerusalem, not only find it hard to emancipate themselves from the myth of Arab glory, but maintain close connections with the capitals of the Arab countries...

...Nevertheless, the very fact that we proclaim the existence of such an option will immediately provide us with certain advantages in our war against the terrorists' influence in the occupied areas...

...The process of decolonization that has taken place in the Arab lands of the Middle East and *Fath is in fact a reverse formation of hatf, the initial letters of Harakat Tahrir Filastin [" Movement for the Liberation of Palestine," or "Fatah" in other forms of spelling...

...According to Muslim tradition the angels of heaven fought on the side of the Muslim warriors...

...The Arab who, under pressure of threats, agrees to cooperate with the Fath is not merely submitting to fear: he can see his action as a response to the call of Arab nationalism...

...The Arab position, which rejects partition, is indeed immoral...

...But this view is mistaken...

...There is, of course, no guarantee that it will come to fruition...

...The Arabs maintain that we agreed to partition at the time because we were prepared to divide up property that was not in our possession...

...Indeed, it must needs be a protracted process and must be based on positive day-to-day activity in the area concerned, and its success is conditional upon the Arabs' agreement...

...This view appears in our eyes so utterly distorted that, if it were not for the fact that its consequences are so injurious, we could permit ourselves to laugh it to scorn...

...Following the above attempt to delineate in brief the Arabs' a priori attitude toward Israel, I should like to pose another question: Does the Muslim Weltanschauung take into account the possibility of a settlement with non-Muslim countries...

...Nevertheless, ought we, and can we, indicate the direction that we think such a solution should take...

...This does not mean merely religious supremacy but political and military supremacy, achieved by means of conquest and victory or else by their ability to impose upon the other side arrangements suitable to themselves...

...They also formed many ties through marriage outside Palestine...

...It is a known fact that the terrorist organizations make use of threats and acts of violence in order to coerce the inhabitants of the occupied areas into helping them and to overcome their reluctance to cooperate...

...Islam was validated at the beginning of its history by means of the victory that Allah vouchsafed to the Prophet Muhammad's army at the Battle of Badr in 624...

...IV WE ARE at the moment in a position where no overall political solution to our problem is in sight...

...True, it may appear a long way off, perhaps almost utopian...

...We may conjecture that this element is especially intensive among those who have thrown off the yoke of traditional observance...

...The various Arab ideologies—those of Nasser's "Philosophy of the Revolution," of the Bath (of both right and left), of the Muslim Brotherhood and of the Fath—all try to fulfill the aspirations emanating from this level of Muslim consciousness...

...As already stated, Christian Arabs who accept Arab nationalism also necessarily identify themselves with the myth of Muslim glory...

...As against the Arab ideology, which maintains that the Arabs have to be prepared to make any sacrifice—that this is their war of "no alternative"—we have to offer an alternative, a possibility of achieving a solution...

...I also maintain that such a state cannot establish itself on the West Bank of the Jordan only, but must extend to the East Bank as well...

...But not with a weak one...

...The call for a Palestinian Solution, based as it is upon the principle of partition, presents a challenge to the anti-Israel ideology now prevailing among the Arabs...

...For even though the Muslims are bidden to wage war in order to conquer the world, they are permitted—provided the balance of power makes it necessary—to reach peaceful accommodations with their adversaries...

...Thus it is certainly no coincidence that the principal guerrilla movement chose as its name the word Fath (conquest), which appears in the 110th Chapter of the Koran, entitled "The Victory," in which Allah promises victory to the Islamic faith.* The national aspect is an essential element of Arab-Muslim identity and is common to all Muslim Arabs, observant and nonobservant alike...

...According to Muslim theory, peace agreements are always made for a stipulated period of time334 up to 10 years...

...Those who say that there is no solution whatever and maintain that all that is involved is power adopt attitudes that are educationally ruinous...

...Hence when we demand of him that he desist from cooperating with the terrorists, we should also give him an opportunity to say to himself or his sons: "I refuse to aid the terrorists, not because I am afraid of the Jews, but because the risk is neither worthwhile nor necessary...

...This ideal self-image has its roots in the 332 underlying stratum of the Islamic faith...

...This advantage accruing from the proposed Palestinian Solution is by no means its primary justification...

...The Fath are indeed strongly opposed to the idea, because it represents the possibility of a solution that is not in accordance with their aims...

...but it should not be rejected on that account...

...According to the Muslim point of view permitting a settlement with non-Muslim adversaries, there is some moral justification for reaching an accommodation with a powerful enemy...

...Ens...

...The leading Arabs of Jerusalem and Nablus today most definitely dissociate themselves from the solution I have outlined...

...We must reserve to ourselves the right to determine the aims of Zionism, and not leave it to Yasir Arafat to define them...

...Moreover, the Arabs of Jerusalem and Hebron have special rites connected with the holy shrines in those towns as well as long-standing local traditions...

...To me it seems that we must understand such phrases not merely as propaganda cliches but as an expression of the fearful anxiety that fills the hearts of the Arabs regarding the meaning of their identity and their worth as Arabs...

...I do not, of course, mean setting up a Palestinian state instead of the State of Israel, but a Palestinian Arab state side by side with Israel...

...They and other Arab factors are afraid that it may gain acceptance amongst the Arabs...

...It is no exaggeration to say that extremist Israeli utterances a la Scheib or Beigin serve, albeit unwittingly, the end of the proponents of the extremist Arab doctrine...

...This Arab outlook postulates that there is no point in the Arabs' making any moderate moves, as in any event they can have no effect whatever on Israeli intentions...

...Indeed, they may lead to despair and cynicism...

...We have to reaffirm that we recognize that each of the two parties involved has a share in this country...

...but it was an illusion that was not destroyed until modern times...

...Anyone who is at all familiar with current trends among our adolescent youth will realize that to propound the possibility of a solution that is essentially Zionist and at the same time has universal moral validity is a vital necessity for education...

...For several years a positive and practical course has been pursued by those administering the occupied territories...

...Why do the Fath concern themselves altogether with this question...

...And here we perceive an inner conflict that causes a dichotomy in the soul of the modern Muslim: in order to defend his collective identity against the foreigner he has to learn from him...

...Hence the defeat the Arabs suffered at our hands is for them not merely a political problem: it is a threat to their self-esteem and to their identity as Arabs...

...According to this view, our will to survive as a nation is held up against the Arab position, which is allegedly based on a claim for justice...

...The Arabs picture Israeli policy as a consistent one, its aims having been determined as far back as the end of the last century...

...This attitude is manifest in the "Palestine Covenant," which includes a clause (Article 20 of the Covenant) stating that the Jews are not a nation, but only a religious entity...

...We have to learn what their mistakes are in evaluating our policy and aspirations, first in order to ascertain whether anything can be done to alter the distorted image created in their minds, and second—and more important—to avoid our repeating the same mistakes...