Nathan Sharansky, Israel's Minister of Housing and Construction, and the leader of the Russian immigrants party "Yisrael Ba'aliyah" compares Israeli leaders who still adhere to the Oslo accords to those in Russia who refuse to bury Lenin. Sharansky argues that the path to peace must change since the current one has proven both erroneous and damaging. Following are excerpts from Sharasky's op-ed:[1]
"In a recent [Israeli] government meeting, a senior minister said: 'I don't want to be the gravedigger of the Oslo Accords.' This statement was made while atrocious terror attacks were taking place, and following the expert opinion of security officials who attested in that same meeting that not only is Palestinian Authority [PA] not doing anything in order to prevent terror attacks, but that [PA Chairman Yasser] Arafat, who was one of Oslo's architects, is himself behind these attacks. To the reverberation of the senior minister's statement, I could not help myself but to drift in my imagination to Moscow's Red Square, and to Lenin's Mausoleum, which remains there as a vestige to an antiquated world long gone."
"The Soviet Union and Communism were thrown into the garbage can of history long ago. Nevertheless, the body of the man who, more than anything else, symbolizes the Soviet regime, has yet to be brought to eternal rest. The idea to lay Lenin to rest was brought up a few years ago. Those who supported the idea based on political grounds hoped that with this act they would hammer the last nail into the coffin of the Soviet Union's dark and murderous past. Despite that, Lenin's embalmed body eventually remained in its place."
"I wonder occasionally as to what was the reason for that decision [not lay Lenin to rest]. Apparently, for a few, Lenin's burial would symbolize not only the official end of the Soviet dictatorship but also the shattering of the vision which underlined it: to build a more just and equal society, free of any biases, social or geographic borders."
"It looks like the Oslo devotees are facing the same dilemma. The death of the Oslo process is an indisputable fact, and it is apparent in the difficult reality in which we live in. The vast majority of the Israeli public, as well as many in the American administration, understand today that Arafat is an enemy whose goals are not any different from those of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad."
"Even so, there are a few Israeli leaders who are unwilling to lay the Oslo Accords to rest in peace despite the waves of terror brought upon us by Arafat. Instead of treating the Oslo Accords as failed means of bringing peace, [for these individuals] these accords became the ideal for peace in itself, and the one and only key for a 'New Middle East,' prosperous and free of borders, and which was the object of their dreams."
"The Oslo devotees are afraid that as a consequence of the Oslo Accords' death, the public will force them to also eulogize the principles which were the basis for these accords. However, it turns out that noble principles can lead to a grim reality. Communism was created as a tool for the attainment of exalted goals by the proletariat's dictatorship, which oppressed, tortured, and murdered tens of millions of people in the name of equality and justice. The Oslo architects encouraged the establishment of Arafat's dictatorship as a tool to be used for the realization of the vision of peace."
"The incomprehensible fear of abandoning the Oslo illusions is causing serious damage to the State of Israel. The fact that a part of the Israeli leadership is investing efforts in reviving the Oslo Accords while the other part is attempting to stop those efforts is creating a situation where the political debate remains fenced in the Oslo trap. Furthermore, Oslo's basic defect is the erroneous belief that it is possible to attain peace that is not based on deterrence with an undemocratic partner. He who encouraged the establishment of a Palestinian dictatorship in our back yard should not be surprised by the presence of unrelenting terror, which is nothing but a survival mechanism of the dictatorial regime."
"Those politicians, both Israeli and foreign, who insist on coming back to the same notion which strengthen and legitimize Arafat and his dictatorial regime, waste their time on a mistaken peace concept which took its last breath a long time ago."
"Instead of continuing to groom the Palestinian dictatorship since 'there is no other partner,' it is incumbent upon them to help the Palestinians in creating a democratic society, whose leadership will devote time to the betterment of its residence rather than to wars with others. Until such times, there will be neither peace nor stability."
"Just as Lenin's burial would not bring an end to the hope that it is possible to build a better world here, the burial of the Oslo Accords would not result in the funeral for the dream for peace between our neighbors and us. On the contrary, only with the acknowledgment in the death of these accords will Israelis and Palestinians be able to open up to new ideas and to advance towards finding true solutions to the region's ills."
Endnote:
[1] Ha'aretz, December 17, 2001.
