Fateful Triangle

Washington’s “Peace Process”898happy to hand over to someone else, just as Israel is delighted to freeitself from the burden of controlling downtown Nablus and Gaza Citydirectly. Here and in the isolated villages of Zone B, Palestinian forcesare to manage the population on the standard models: the British inIndia, Whites in South Africa and Rhodesia, the U.S. in CentralAmerica, and so on. Israel has at last recognized the absurdity of usingits own forces to keep the natives quiet.To take another standard of comparison, recall that in 1988, at themost extreme period of U.S.-Israeli refusal to recognize any Palestinianrights or to have any dealings with the PLO, Rabin called for Israelicontrol of 40% of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, speaking for the LaborParty and reiterating its basic stand from 1968 (with some variations).In 1995, Rabin recognized the need to sacrifice, and at Oslo II waswilling to accept Israeli control of only about twice as much as he haddemanded before—70-97% of the West Bank and 30% of the GazaStrip—along with recognition of the legality of whatever Israel and itssponsor have done and may choose to do.There has been another change from 1988: at Oslo, Rabin andShimon Peres were willing to negotiate with the PLO and recognize it as“the representative of the Palestinian people,” at least in a side letterthough not in the official agreement. In 1988, they had flatly refusedany dealings with the PLO. That transformation has evoked muchacclaim from U.S. commentators, who were particularly impressed byRabin’s ability to overcome the revulsion he felt for his old enemy—andwho prefer not to listen to the explanation offered by the objects of theiradmiration: ‘There has been a change in them, not us,” Peres informedthe Israeli public as the Oslo I accords were announced; “We are notnegotiating with the PLO, but only with a shadow of its former self.” Thenew approved shadow effectively accepts Israel’s demands, abandoningits call for mutual recognition in a two-state settlement, the programClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky