They cannot get no satisfaction...

In August in 2005 Israel executed a unilateral disengagement from the Gaza strip. About 9,000 Israelis from 21 settlements left voluntarily or was evicted under violent encounters between settlers and IDF troops. This decision, proposed by Ariel Sharon, has been a subject of great dispute, since the territory was left without any reliable governing support and supervision. This allowed Gaza to develop into the growing-ground of extremism as it is today, oppressed by the terrorist regime Hamas, which in turn is supported by the totalitarian theocracy Iran. With this history at hand it is understandable that a future Israeli disengagement from the West Bank will have to involve a mutual agreement with the Palestinians and a plan on how to secure a peaceful life for both Israelis and Palestinians.

The evicted settlers were offered generous compensations by the Israeli state, but the original budget of NIS 5.5 billion has today reached the staggering NIS 10 billion. Some of the settlers wanted more, and realised that the government would not stand firm against pressure and today they have acquired generous financial payments, prime land and an administration to serve all their needs. They simply got it all, but still they have retained a battalion of lawyers who have constantly kept the demands coming. These people are on the frontier in the battle for the Greater Israel, and they have no intention of making compromises for peace. This wound is kept open and infected in order to deter the government from disengaging the West Bank.

This lack of ability to compromise is of course also represented on the Palestinian side. All along history the Palestinian leaders at the time have chosen to turn down peace offers, beginning with the UN partition plan in 1947, that was accepted by the Jews but turned down by the Arabs, up until last year, when Ehud Olmert offered 97% of the West Bank and acceptance of the principle of the "right of return", an offer far more generous than done by any previous Israeli prime minister, or even Bush or Clinton for that matter. It is hard to see any true goodwill to achieve peace in this attitude, and up until today Fatah, which is considered to be the moderate fraction of the Palestinians, and the main partner in future negotiations, still reveals that their goal is a Greater Palestine within the borders of what today constitute both Israel and the Palestinian territories. This became clear after the Fatah general conference in Bethlehem earlier this year, where no change was made to the charter that still calls for the elimination of the "Zionist entity".

Both sides invariably argue that they cannot act until the other side offers far-reaching concessions. Abbas wants to see a construction freeze in the West Bank settlements, while Netanyahu asks for recognition of Israel as the Jewish state. Both demands are reasonable, but not requirements for initiating negotiations and this hard-headedness only slows down the process. This is something Obama realises and therefore he now demands that the leaders will agree to go into negotiations without preconditions. I have to believe that he has the capacity to succeed.