A Step Towards Peace

As a flurry of violent attacks and reprisals escalates in the Middle East, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak comes to Washington, D.C. today to discuss the latest efforts to revive a near-dead peace process.

A recent Saudi Arabian peace initiative, first published in a New York Times column last month, has brought a spark of hope in the midst of chaos. Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah has said Saudi Arabia and its Arab neighbors would fully normalize relations with Israel in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from all occupied territories in accordance with past U.N. resolutions, and the creation of a Palestinian state. Prince Abdullah plans to ask the 22-member Arab League to back the peace offer at the next summit meeting beginning on March 27 in Beirut.

While the current proposal is far from detailed—and offers a compromise to which many Israelis and Palestinians may not be willing to agree—it does have the potential to end the current stalemate and bring the parties back to the negotiating table. With few alternatives in sight, the Saudi initiative appears to represent a serious attempt to broker peace in the region by a major Arab power, and it should be pursued with all possible effort.

But in order for this peace proposal to be more than just an empty public relations effort by the Saudi government to improve its standing with the United States, the Saudis must make concrete efforts over the next month to move the plan forward. First they must bring the proposal before the Arab League summit meeting at the end of the month. Saudi Arabia, of course, cannot make peace with Israel alone; it must convince the other Arab states to follow its lead. This requires wide consultation and firm commitments by all other Arab nations, as well as the cooperation of Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

And in order for the backing of these other states to have any meaning, a clearer definition of “full normalization of relations” to which all the parties can agree must be given in order to ensure the future health and security of the region. Part of any normalization of relations between members of the Arab League and Israel requires the Arab states to rid their states of pervasive anti-Semitism, both in schoolbooks and in media reports; there cannot be a true move toward a “New Middle East” if Arab states continue to perpetuate hatred towards Israelis.

To avoid a breakdown in negotiations before they even get off the ground, several unanswered questions must be discussed openly. The situation of the Golan Heights must be resolved before this proposal could receive Syrian support. Talks over refugees’ right of return must begin before any plan could receive the backing of states like Lebanon, which houses over 300,000 Palestinian refugees.

One of the strengths of the Saudi proposal is that it does not establish the right of return for all Palestinians as a prerequisite for beginning negotiations. Because Israel will never accept both full refugee right of return and a contiguous Palestinian state, flexibility on the refugee issue is vital to reaching a compromise solution. But the idea that Israel should recognize a contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with minor border adjustments is a solid basis on which to build a more comprehensive peace. In the end, agreements involving refugees, control of Jerusalem and security guarantees should closely resemble those offered in Taba in January 2001, the last concerted effort toward brokering peace.

No matter what Saudi leaders do, the United States must latch onto this glimmer of hope. President George W. Bush and the State Department must be actively involved in these discussions. They must ensure that the plan does not devolve into an unreasonable ultimatum hoisted upon unwilling parties. And before anyone can move forward, all leaders in the Middle East-especially Yassir Arafat and Ariel Sharon—must do everything in their power to stop the spiral of violence that continues to engulf the region.

Long-term peace in the Middle East will be extremely difficult to achieve, yet hope remains as long as some leaders are willing to pursue proposals like this one. Often the greatest accomplishments originate from the most humble beginnings.