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June 20, 2008

The last day of Americans for Peace Now's annual mission to Israel was the first day of the ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Naturally, the ceasefire dominated Thursday's discussions.
Read Previous Dispatches: June 19, June 18, June 17, June 16

By Ori Nir, APN Spokesman

The last day of Americans for Peace Now's annual mission to Israel was the first day of the ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Naturally, the ceasefire dominated Thursday's discussions.

Most of our speakers, like most ministers of the Israeli cabinet and like the majority of the Israeli public, supported the ceasefire agreement.

The ceasefire is controversial. Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon, minister for state policy affairs in the Prime Minister's Office, is one of eight cabinet members who opposed the agreement. Sixteen supported it. Meeting us at his Kadima Party's headquarters in Petah Tikva, Ramon argued that the ceasefire agreement was a gift to Islamists, not only in Gaza but across the region. The conflict in the region today is not between Israel and the Arab world, he said, but between pragmatists and fundamentalist militants. By negotiating with Hamas, albeit indirectly, Israel recognized the organization instead of militarily toppling its regime in Gaza, Ramon argued.

He noted that Defense Minister Ehud Barak led the efforts to achieve the ceasefire agreement but neglected to explain that Barak acted upon recommendations from the Israel Defense Forces' top brass, including Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi. According to reports in the Israeli media, the IDF knows that a comprehensive military campaign to topple Hamas in the Gaza Strip will cost the lives of several hundred Israeli soldiers, will require the de-facto re-occupation of the Strip with a long-term IDF presence there, is likely to not achieve its goal of destroying Hamas' infrastructure, and may very well destroy the efforts to advance a peace process with Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority.

Yossi Alpher, one of Israel's leading strategic analysts, laid out for us the full range of considerations and deliberations that led the government to approve the ceasefire agreement. One of the most compelling considerations was the Israeli government's realization that the tight siege on Gaza, which was designed to put popular pressure on Hamas and topple Hamas' regime, has failed.

Alpher said that stabilizing the situation in Gaza must be accompanied by efforts to economically and politically improve the situation in the West Bank. Israel, he said, must find a way to remove roadblocks and checkpoints in the West Bank. Only that would open the way for improving the economy of the West Bank, said Alpher.

Ron Shatzberg, a retired IDF Lieutenant Colonel who until recently managed security arrangements on West Bank roads as a battalion commander, showed us how superfluous is the broad network of roadblocks and checkpoints east of the Green Line. Most of the 600-odd roadblocks and checkpoints can be lifted, he said. They can be substituted with smarter security arrangements which would provide Israel with a similarly high level of security and finally give the Palestinian economy the oxygen it needs to thrive. Better access and movement would transform the situation on the ground and give peace efforts a tremendous boost, said Shatzberg, who now works for the Economic Cooperation Foundation, a Tel Aviv-based think tank.

APN's mission to Israel ended Friday in a meeting with Peace Now leaders to exchange views and discuss further cooperation.