Professor Paul Eidelberg
Those who believe that Likud right-wingers will thwart Prime Minister Sharon in his determined commitment to a Palestinian state should ponder the record of Yitzhak Shamir vis-a-vis the PLO.
Let us go back to December 1988. The first intifada had broken out the previous December. Shamir, generally regarded as the hawk of the Likud Party, was the prime minister of a government of national unity. The PLO’s phased strategy for destroying Israel was a matter of public knowledge. For example:
December 18, 1988: Then PLO deputy chairman Abu Iyad said in Al-Siyassa, a Kuwait daily: “Setting up a Palestinian state on a portion of the soil of Palestine is a phase towards our final objective--to establish a state in all of Palestine.”
April 13, 1989: PLO ‘foreign minister’ Farouk Kaddoumi said in a BBC Arabic Service interview: “The recovery of but part of our soil will not cause us to forsake our Palestinian land.... We will build our tent near those places which our bullets can reach ... [This] will then form the base from which we will later pursue the next phase.” (Jerusalem Post)
How did the Shamir government react to this PLO strategy?
December 27, 1988: “Shamir’s bureau chief Yossi Ahimeir insisted yesterday that the Arabs would be surprised by Shamir’s flexibility ...” (Jerusalem Post)
January 16, 1989: “[Prime Minister Shamir announced] a readiness to consider some sort of superpower -- and perhaps even UN-sponsorship ...” (Jerusalem Post)
February 10, 1989: Foreign Minister Moshe Arens, said: “Just what part of the territories Israel would retreat from ... and just where the secure boundaries for Israel are, that’s a subject for interpretation; it bears directly on the permanent settlement.” (Jerusalem Post)
February 17, 1989: “[Prime Minister Shamir] has been holding secret meetings with Palestinians from the territories for several months” as revealed by his media adviser Avi Pazner (Jerusalem Post) These contacts were also reported a year and half earlier by the then Likud central committee member Moshe Amirav. The Jerusalem Post (September 20, 1987) gave it extensive coverage:
“Amirav gave the clear impression that Shamir knew about the contacts [going on since June 1987] in which he and [Prof. Sari] Nusseibeh, … Faisal Husseini [the known representative of the PLO in Jerusalem] … discussed guidelines for an interim arrangement of ‘wide-ranging self-rule’ for the Palestinians...
“The discussions were followed by a meeting between Nusseibeh and Likud MK Ehud Olmert... Olmert said that the two had discussed the possibility of ‘contacts with other elements in the Likud, including people in the government... [Nusseibeh] said understanding had been reached on Amirav’s proposal of expanded self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which would provide for Palestinian control of land and resources, as well as autonomous government over people... for the withdrawal of Israeli troops to specific locations, and creation of a demilitarized Palestinian ‘entity’ which would have its capital in East Jerusalem and trappings of nationhood: a flag, its own currency, and its own identity cards, he said...
“Although Shamir’s office has denied any involvement in Amirav’s moves, it did receive several weeks ago his detailed proposal for an expanded version of the Camp David autonomy proposals, titled ‘A Framework for Peace in Greater Israel.’ Further, the Prime Minister’s office has conceded that it heard ‘rumors’ of Amirav’s meetings, and had made no attempt to stop them.”
March 17, 1989: “Against the background of US pressure on Israel to talk with the PLO, Prime Minister Shamir’s media adviser, Avi Pazner, revealed yesterday that Shamir has been holding secret meetings with Palestinians from the territories for several months.” (The Nation)
April 9, 1989: “Washington has now embarked on an active mediating role ... between Israel and the PLO... The president [George Bush (senior)] decided to take at face value what he termed as Mr. Shamir’s assurances ... that ‘interim arrangements on Palestinian self-rule are not the end of the road, but are directly linked to a broader political process that includes negotiations and concluding an agreement on final status that is satisfactory to all sides.’ In doing so, Mr. Bush has publicly committed the prime minister to future moves which are in stark contradiction to everything Mr. Shamir stands for in his political credo.” (Editorial -- Jerusalem Post)
April 27, 1989: “Four of the ‘military leaders’ of the ‘Intifada’ were apprehended a few months ago... Abed-Rabbo … gave the names of 43 ‘heads’ of the 15-month-old insurrection... The two most prominent leaders are Prof. Sari Nusseibeh of Bir Zeit University and Radwan Abu-Ayyash, head of Palestinian Journalists’ Association in Jerusalem... They have not been charged on government orders so as not to jeopardize the Prime Minister’s peace initiatives.” (Jerusalem Post)
April 30, 1989: “Shamir is likely to back Defense Minister [Yitzhak] Rabin’s preference for territories-wide political elections, rather than municipal elections favored by his own advisers...” (Jerusalem Post)
Three weeks later, Henry Kissinger warned: “Historical experience teaches that a people that holds elections always obtains independence.” (May 21, 1989, Ma'ariv)
Apparently, this does not apply to the Jews, who remain enthralled by Ariel Sharon.