[PETA]

here's that article I mentioned (somewhere)

Mr. Nordlinger's multipart journal from the World Economic Forum on the Middle East can be found at www.nationalreview.com/middleeastjournal09

'All the gaps are bridgeable': what a PLO man and an Israeli think of peace between their sides

The Dead Sea, Jordan

I FIRST saw them together in Davos, two years ago. Saeb Erekat was chief negotiator for the PLO; Ephraim Sneh was the chief negotiator for Israel. They were like an old married couple, finishing each other's sentences. But, unlike many married couples, they did not disagree on anything. They were in complete accord. It was obvious what had to be done, they said: two independent states, side by side, separated by the 1967 borders (more or less). There was some wrangling to go through where refugees and Jerusalem were concerned. Other than that: piece of cake.

With those two, Palestinian-Israeli peace seemed ridiculously easy. It was perverse that such peace had not already been achieved.

We are now in Jordan, by the Dead Sea, at another forum arranged by the Davos people. Erekat and Sneh are again among the throng. Erekat is still chief negotiator for the PLO, because there is not much rotation in office in that state-to-be, or would-be state. Sneh is out of government: but still cuts a figure in Israeli politics. He lights up at the sight of Erekat, who is giving a TV interview. He obviously gets a kick out of him.

"When I was governor of the West Bank, I hated his big mouth," he says. "But many things have changed since then." He tells me about the time Tony Blair saw them huddled together in the American Colony Hotel (Jerusalem). "What secrets are you sharing?" said Blair. What the men were doing was sharing pictures of their granddaughters on their cellphones.

Some people don't trust Erekat as far as they could throw him. Other people say that he is as reasonable and trustworthy as anybody in the PLO. Some people may think both: that you can't trust him and that he is the best the PLO has to offer. That is a very, very skeptical group indeed.

He was born in East Jerusalem, 1955. In other words, he was born under Jordanian occupation--which you did not hear much squawking about. The young man went to San Francisco State for his B.A. and his M.A., and then to Bradford University in England for his Ph.D. This degree is in peace studies. He is called "Dr. Erekat," as Sneh is called "Dr. Sneh." And this was the subject of the most charming thing I have ever heard a PLO man say.

During their joint appearance in Davos, Erekat said, "Ephraim is a real doctor. [A specialist in internal medicine.] I am a doctor of blah, blah, blah." And with this he made a gesture that signaled words streaming out of his mouth. Erekat is, indeed, a talker, and a strong-willed, aggressive one.

For many years, he has been not only the PLO's chief negotiator, but its chief spokesman, too. I have likened him to Vladimir Posner, the old Soviet flack. Erekat has a repertoire of American and British idioms. In Jerusalem once, I heard him say, "I'm not bullsh**ting you." He was Yasser Arafat's close aide, and also his interpreter. Moreover, he was the chairman's face to the outside world--"Mr. Outside," I called him. It was a better face than the chairman's, as are most.

That day in Jerusalem, he admonished a group of us pro-Israel types. He said--and I paraphrase--"I represent the peace camp in Palestine. And if you reject me, you will put the radicals in charge. Is that what you want?"

And in Davos, he said some things that almost moved me, I confess. For instance, I asked him, wearily, why he thought peace was within grasp, after so many decades of irreconcilability and violence. In answer, he spoke of a hunger for peace on both sides. And both sides had suffered, he said. Rarely have I heard PLO spokesmen acknowledge Israeli suffering. He also said that, when he goes through Israeli checkpoints, the soldiers recognize him, from television. And they say, "Dr. Erekat, why can't you bring us peace?" Furthermore, Palestinians berate him in public for dealing with the enemy--Israel. And then they scurry up to him and whisper, "Dr. Erekat, can't you bring us peace?"

Here in Jordan, he is in a combative, not to say unpleasant, mood. He is a poor, put-upon fellow, you see. "I am the most disadvantaged negotiator in history, ever since Eve negotiated with Adam." (Again, I paraphrase, but closely.) "I have no army, no navy, no air force, no economy, no anything. My people are fragmented. I have no chance in the United States. I have no voters there. But who said that life was about fairness and justice?"

Erekat is not so disadvantaged, of course: Israel is the most reviled nation on earth, practically a pariah among nations. The U.N. sometimes seems organized to oppose the Israelis and boost the Palestinians. That has to be worth something to this negotiator.

He always stresses democracy, saying that anyone who suggests that Arabs are unsuited to democracy "is a racist." He says that, in the territories, "democracy didn't fail: Hamas failed." It "resorted to bullets and coups d'etat," instead of ballots.

I ask him why an Israeli, seeing what followed Israel's withdrawal from Gaza four years ago, should be eager to withdraw from the West Bank. In other words, will there be a second terror state? Erekat cites Israel's agreements with Egypt and Jordan: They are strong, remaining in place. The problem in Gaza--and the problem in South Lebanon--was that Israel withdrew unilaterally. They "should have talked to me," the Israelis should have. "Their unilateralism did not work. It failed, big-time." It would be nice if the Israelis learned from their mistakes, says Erekat, "but they never admit mistakes."

When people talk so sweepingly about Palestinians--Erekat is not very approving.

In any event, Ephraim Sneh agrees with him entirely, about Gaza and South Lebanon: Israeli "unilateralism" failed bigtime. In the case of Gaza, Israel wound up making a gift to Hamas. Sneh agrees with Erekat about most other things, too. He believes that a settlement is easy--outright easy: because "all the gaps are bridgeable." Even the question of refugees, even the question of Jerusalem.

What is important in dealing with the Palestinians, he says, is to stay away from history, blame, and so on. Play on the level of practicalities: what can be done starting now. "Put all the past aside, and stop what I call the 'comparative victimology'": who did what to whom, when.

Sneh was born in Tel Aviv, four years before the Jewish state (i.e., in 1944). His father, Moshe Sneh, was a leader of Israeli Communism. Ephraim Sneh was a party member until he was 27. After a distinguished--highly distinguished--military career, he joined Labor. Last year, he bolted his longtime party to found his own: Yisrael Hazaka ("Strong Israel").

He calls himself a social democrat, and one who is "on the sane middle ground" when it comes to national security. In fact, he is quite hawkish, about Iran and any other threat to Israel. When I suggest a comparison to Scoop Jackson, he smiles and says, "Americans often say that to me. Is that a compliment? I'm not familiar enough with American politics to know." (I assure him he could do much worse, for comparisons.)

Sneh says that you can trust Erekat, for he is "committed to the idea of peace." But how is he different from Arafat? "Oh, come on," the doctor scoffs. "He is different by ideology and by credibility." He says that you could not make peace with Arafat, because he wanted peace "only according to 100 percent of his demands." The "disappearance" of Arafat, as he puts it, offered a new chance: but the Israelis did not seize it. They missed a "golden opportunity" to strike a deal with the new crew.

Yet Sneh believes that a deal can still be reached. Once that happened, it would take four or five years to implement, he says. The most difficult part would be "the relocation of the settlers"--the uprooted Jews. It could not be done "in a brutal, harsh way," as in Gaza. Sneh allows that hatred now abides in human hearts, both Palestinian and Israeli. "But I believe that peace, cooperation, and prosperity will easily wash it away, clean it out," over time.

And the new prime minister--the new-ld prime minister, Netanyahu? "He is surrounded by hardliners," says Sneh, "which I'm afraid will make it difficult for him to take the right steps." But Netanyahu by himself is "pragmatic enough" to accomplish the necessary.

I can't help asking Sneh about President Bush (43), who is being bashed here, as always: especially by Americans and Europeans. He says, in a broad assessment, "He had the balls to stand up to evil. He was clumsy, and he made mistakes. But he had the balls to stand up to Islamic fascism."

Sneh is an interesting man of the Israeli Left, or semi-Left, seeming fuzzy one minute, and hard as nails the next. He gets your attention. And when he teams up with Erekat, you can almost see a Palestinian-Israeli future: a good one. Yet what from the PLO is to be believed? Another PLO man, Abbas Zaki, their ambassador to Lebanon, goes on television--Arab television--to say that the two-state solution is a mere ruse: just a phase, part of the old PLO incrementalism. In good time, the Jewish state will collapse entirely, and the Palestinians will have it all, rightfully.

The Erekat-Sneh vision could be sheer illusion. Then again, what if it were not?