Israel under pressure over Palestinian issue

Security has been stepped up in Jerusalem and the West Bank Keystone

Israel's military strikes on Gaza, and Palestinian reprisals – including the bloodiest attack on Jerusalem in four years - have dimmed hopes of a peace settlement.

Geneva-based Middle East expert Pascal de Crousaz tells swissinfo that with no agreement in sight, Israel could end up trying to offload its Palestinian problem onto neighbouring states.

Israel was placed on a state of general alert on Friday after a gunman killed eight Israeli students in a religious college in Jerusalem on Thursday. The attack brought widespread condemnation from the international community and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Swiss foreign ministry also condemned the attack and reiterated its concern over the “constant degradation” of the situation in Gaza and the south of Israel.

The Human Rights Council, currently in session in Geneva, has condemned Israeli operations in Gaza and Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.

swissinfo: Is the Israeli government sensitive to criticism from the Human Rights Council?

Pascal de Crousaz: Israel has always believed that many countries are hostile towards it and that its government must first and foremost look after its own population. Respect for human rights, as understood by the outside world, comes second.

But there are also certain concerns that one day Israel will find itself in the position of Serbia during the Bosnian war, and that the Israeli military or the political decision-makers would face charges under international law.

Meanwhile, there are also calls by sections of the Israeli population for extreme measures, such as those taken against Gaza.

swissinfo: Doesn’t the recent Israeli military offensive cast doubt on its desire to reach a peace agreement?

P. de C.: The government’s first concern is to respond to the expectations of Israelis on security matters. The Palestinian rocket fire, even if it only results in a few victims and little damage, places the government in an untenable situation. It intervened even though its popularity had already weakened.

This rocket fire causes great concern in the population. No government in the world could stand by when faced with this type of aggression. Israel is therefore engaged in a devastating, spectacular reaction, even if the operation doesn’t produce any tangible military result.

But this operation is not a sign that Israel is unwilling to negotiate. As the former prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, so passionately said, it is about negotiating peace as if there wasn’t any violence and fighting against violence as though there weren’t any negotiations taking place. The Israeli government is now following this kind of logic.

That said, even at the heart of the Israeli government some people are opposed to the concessions which are essential to bring about a peace agreement, like granting Palestinian sovereignty to the Arab quarters of Jerusalem. The ruling coalition would probably fall apart if such concessions were made.

The question Israelis are asking themselves is what price they are willing to pay for a peace agreement.

swissinfo: Arab diplomatic missions doubt the success of a peace agreement. Some believe that Israel is looking to pass the Gaza Strip onto the Egyptians and the West Bank onto the Jordanians. How credible is this hypothesis?

P. de C.: This interpretation is not illogical. Firstly, there is an objective fact. The manner in which Israel conducted the earlier peace process, reacting to the second intifada, practically destroying a Palestinian authority that itself is reluctant to control its own radical elements – this is against the peace process. The policies that were held against Yasser Arafat have not changed.

Since then, all those in Israel who were opposed to paying the price for peace with the Palestinians have been able to justify their claim that there isn’t a Palestinian partner who could respect any possible agreements. In fact, today, Mahmoud Abbas only represents himself and a few loyal supporters. His power does not extend beyond the limits of his office or Ramallah.

That said, the Israeli government believes that the status quo is not tenable in the long term. And that for demographic reasons. In the short term, it envisaged unilateral retreats, as in Gaza. But with rocket fire on Israel from the Gaza Strip, it’s clear today that without a peace agreement, these pullbacks don’t solve anything.

There is therefore a big temptation for Israel to turn to its neighbours – Egypt for the Gaza strip and Jordan for the West Bank – to hand them responsibility for these zones. After the radical Islamic group Hamas blew open the wall separating Egypt and the Gaza Strip, certain top Israelis openly said that Egypt should take care of the Gaza Strip.

These vacillations by Israeli politicians between an autonomous solution for the Palestinians and passing the situation onto neighbouring states in fact dates back to 1967, the beginning of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and of Gaza after the Six Day War.

It is far from certain whether Egypt or Jordan want to join in this game.

swissinfo-interview: Frédéric Burnand in Geneva

In brief

The United Nations Human Rights Council on Thursday condemned the Israeli operations in Gaza and the Palestinian rocket fire on Israel, at the request of the Palestinian Authority and Pakistan, in the name of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the League of Arab States.

The council called for the “immediate cessation of all military attacks in the occupied territories as well as the rocket fire from the occupied Palestinian territory” and condemned constant attacks and Israeli incursions and particularly the most recent ones which resulted in the death of 125 Palestinian civilians and hundred of injuries.

The resolution was adopted by 33 votes, with Canada against and 13 abstentions, including France, Germany, Britain and Italy. Switzerland voted in favour.

The Human Rights Council declared it was equally “shocked” by “the Israeli policy of inflicting a collective punishment on the civil population”.

Israel denounced it as a one-way resolution and the Israeli ambassador to the UN said Israel had a right to defend itself.