Naomi Chazan knows about high-pressure speaking gigs. An 11-year Israeli Parliament member and current professor of political science at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, she found an easier crowd when she spoke at the Freeman Center for Jewish Life Wednesday night. Chazan briefed a crowd of about 60 people on the currents of change and continuity present in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Chazan, a member of the far-left Israeli political party Meretz, began by requesting that the audience forgive her if she was “a bit provocative.”
She then walked the crowd through a crisp, fast-paced analysis of the three “new-old governments.” Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s third government in four years, newly elected Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s consolidation of power and U.S. President George W. Bush’s second-term administration are all recent manifestations of longstanding political patterns that affect the Israeli-Palestinian arena, she explained.
“This is the last opportunity we will have to cement a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Chazan said. “It will not happen by itself.”
Abbas represents a departure from earlier Palestinian leadership due to his nonviolent platform. Abbas has openly described his desire for negotiations with the Israelis and is willing to come down on Hamas, she said. But Chazan clarified that as a contemporary of late Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat and a co-founder of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Abbas still represents the Palestinian old guard. Chazan predicted to the Freeman Center audience that Abbas would have a problem with new generations of Palestinian leadership.
In the Israeli sphere, Chazan said the prime minister’s newly re-formed government only has one purpose. “This is a disengagement government,” she said. One-third of the Likud, Sharon’s own party, voted against the leader in the recent election due to his marked departure from their right wing agenda in the form of the disengagement plan.
The Israeli government’s policies toward the Palestinian population, however, have not changed, Chazan said.
“Checkpoints are a daily humiliation,” she said. She also pointed out the special chemistry between Bush and Sharon and predicted that the relationship between the two historically right-wing leaders would only strengthen.
Chazan praised what she views as Bush’s new commitment to diplomacy and his recognition of the “direct correlation between the Arab-Israeli conflict and the War on Terror.”
There are some overarching trends, however, that are especially troubling for Chazan. One she noted is the Palestinian people’s inflated optimism and expectations following their successful democratic election, while in Israel the peace camp is “at best skeptical.” Further, the “lack of confidence and trust between Israelis and Palestinians is now part of the conflict,” she said.
There must be a global effort to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict immediately in order for all sides to avoid the most negative outcomes, Chazan said. She emphasized that Palestinians need massive infusions of monetary aid.
“Palestinians need some tangible evidence of an easing of daily life,” she said. “They need to be able to go out at night and not see Israeli soldiers.” In return, she noted that the Palestinian leadership would have to make major and convincing efforts to rein in extremists.
Chazan urged her engaged audience to become involved. The first step—even from a place like Duke—is to “stop this non-conversation” between superficially opposing sides, she said.
She also said that divestment, which encourages selling stocks involved in Israel, is a mistake because of the backlash it incurs on peace-seekers such as herself within Israel and because it does nothing to make the situation on the ground better for people working for peace.
Still, Chazan ended her speech on an optimistic note.
“I am more hopeful than I’ve been in many years,” she said.
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