Zubeidi, Sharon, Hamas, etc
This, from Imshin, made me laugh out loud today. Particularly the part where Al-Aqsa Brigades commander Zakariya Zubeidi is quoted calling "Arik" Sharon "a real man".
Zubeidi continued:
- When there was war in the Jenin (refugee) camp he [Sharon] came here to the headquarters himself. With a weapon, a helmet, everything. He was up front, like me. He killed us, yes, but I see him as a military commander. He’s not a liar. He puts everything on the table, like Abu Mazen (PA chairman Mahmud Abbas).
- Shimon Peres is weak. He’s like a critically ill patient in hospital with an oxygen mask.
Regarding Peres, I've felt for a very long time indeed that the guy's "Mr. Peace" credentials have been, ahem, vastly over-rated. He was, after all, one of the principal organizers of Israel's whole nuclear weapons program, back in the '50s and '60s. Then in 1996-- not long after winning the Nobel peace Prize-- he launched the gratuitous and vicious little war in Lebanon, the main aim of which was to secure his own victory in Israel's elections of that year.
But if Zubaidi is saying things like those quoted above, then welcome change is most definitely in the air! It means, at the very least, that there's a constituency at the militant end of the Palestinian political spectrum that is prepared to give Sharon a chance to make a deal.
I'm glad, too, to see Imshin herself apparently more relaxed about the prospect of making peace with the Palestinians than she has been for a very long time.
Regarding the peace negotiations, Israel has just agreed to go some distance toward meeting the key Hamas demand re repatriation of many previously expelled militants.
And from Hamas's side, Mahmoud Zahar met Abu Mazen and then told AP that Hamas is,
- "committed to what is called 'quietness'" until it determines whether Israel meets its truce obligations, including disclosing the criteria for releasing Palestinian prisoners.
"Up to this moment, we are committed to the previous agreement with Mr. Abbas, and we are going to see how the Israelis" will act, Zahar told the AP.
Let's keep hoping.
I am not sure what the laughter is all about.
Two nations fighting for most of the 20th
century over a miniscule piece of land, a very intractable conflict indeed, and one of the warriors expresses a measure of respect for another old and seasoned warrior. Somehow that is supposed to be funny to she who solves the hardest universal problems by typing her illuminated wisdom on a weblog.
David
I'm not sure how I feel about this dizzying pace of change in people's perceptions of each other
Actually, I think people's perceptions of those on the other side are very important, because a great deal of peacemaking depends on trust. One of the most hopeful signs I saw in the Sharm summit was the genuine respect and trust that Sharon and Abbas appeared to have for each other. That sort of relationship makes it possible to respond to "flare-ups" (as you put it) with restraint and maturity rather than hasty military action, and makes it much more likely that the cease-fire will hold. The idea of respect between old enemies in the Middle East is a very appealing one.