Replace Peace Process with Truth Process!

Salomon Benzimra, co-chair of Canadians for Israel’s Legal Rights (CILR), suggests that with the failed Palestinian-Israeli peace process, the time is ripe for the launch of a ‘Truth Process’ in order to understand the facts behind the conflict.

Now that the Palestinian-Israeli “peace process” has been put on hold, all parties interested in a lasting peace should use this welcome pause in the meaningless negotiations to revisit the true nature of Israel’s “partner for peace.”

To understand the American spirit, one must read the Declaration of Independence of the United States and the U.S. Constitution. These documents crystallize the ideals and aspirations of the American nation, centered on “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and define governing principles of the nation, based on the rule of law.

Similarly, to understand present-day Israel, reading the Declaration of May 14, 1948, leaves no doubt as to the Jewish character of the State; its historical connection with its millennial past; its moral ideals inherited from the Prophets of Israel; its legal reconstitution, recognized in modern international law; and its longing for peace and cooperation with its Arab population, entitled to full civil and religious rights.

But when you inquire about the nature of the “Palestinian nation” in its apparent quest for a “Palestinian state,” you discover an entirely different picture worth exploring.

True Palestinian Goals Demonstrate Reasons for Doomed Peace Process

The officially recognized representative of the “Palestinian people” is the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Here, “liberation” is a label recommended by Soviet propaganda tutors and consciously embraced by Arabs keen on presenting themselves as the eternal victims of one abuse or the other – in this case, “colonialism.”

Of the 33 articles of the Palestinian National Charter, 10 are devoted to the denigration and final destruction of Israel, which it considers illegitimate. Contrary to public belief, none of these articles were ever amended, let alone deleted. The earlier Fatah Constitution (1964) deals with the same themes in one third of its “Principles, Goals and Methods” section, and calls for the end of Jewish immigration to Palestine. And again, one third of the Hamas Covenant (1988) excoriates Zionism, Israel and the Jews in general, in the most fanatic terms.

The remaining two thirds of these documents focus on internal organization, on the prescribed strategy to carry out attacks on Israel and, in the case of Hamas, on the Islamic precepts to justify them. There is nothing in these foundational documents to celebrate the vaunted “Palestinian nation”: no past accomplishments; no future aspirations; no lofty ideals. To this day, the Palestinians have faithfully observed their charters and put them into practice against Israel. They have also deflected their societal shortcomings and ghastly ideology by projecting them on Israel.

Psychological projection (often referred to as Freudian projection) is not new to the Palestinians and their supporters. In 2006, UCLA Professor Saree Makdisi tried (clumsily) to depict Israeli Minister Avigdor Liberman as a racist and a supporter of apartheid. Makdisi’s preposterous diatribe was promptly rebutted. But the Palestinian leadership regularly resorts to the same mendacious means and uses Israel as a scapegoat in a self-defense mechanism to conceal the deeply felt anomie of the Palestinian Arab society.

‘Big Lies’ Tend to Stick

Accusing Israel of apartheid is intended to hide the Palestinian rejection of any Jewish presence in their midst. Blaming Israel for ethnic cleansing is a crude sophistry to mask the real ethnic cleansing of the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem during the Jordanian occupation. Calling Israel a “terrorist state” is simply the pot calling the kettle black, when one remembers the pioneering role the Palestinians played in modern terrorism and their continuing glorification of mass murderers. And above all, the persistent mantra that the Jewish State is “occupying” Judea is the boldest attempt at inverting reality.

These “Big Lies” have a knack to stick. They are rehashed and often believed by the lazy and gullible media; by university professors who indulge in propaganda to the detriment of education; by writers who are hopelessly trapped in the Marxist defense of a pre-designated underdog; by some European officials who have a visceral hatred of the nation-state of Israel, and, sadly, by the recent insinuating remarks of U.S. Secretary John Kerry, chief mediator of the failed peace process, who later apologized.

Failed Peace Process Calls for End to Delusions

Now that the “peace process” has been put on hold, all parties interested in a lasting peace should use this welcome pause in meaningless rounds of negotiations to uncover the true nature of Israel’s “partner for peace.” Truth should be restored and widely disseminated to avoid the delusions that have been haunting us for the past 20 years. And the best way to unmask the Palestinian Arabs and to refute their narrative is to quote them.