My Golani

I am always ambivalent when I visit the Golan Heights. It is a place of such superb beauty and therefore hard to imagine giving up, but I realize of course the utter necessity of doing so.

 

It is of course instructive to not that Israel annexed only the richest spoils from the 1967 war rather than the whole occupied territory. When you see the Golan today, it is sparkling with wineries and other industries.

 

We went to meet with a winemaker in the Golan and talked to him about his life there. When asked about peace, he said that he would like peace but can not live each day thinking about it. I of course asked about the Negev and whether he would consider going there if forced to leave the Golan.

 

Unfortunately, in such a small territory, peace on one front means hardships on those living in another area. The Bedouin of the Negev will of course suffer once peace is achieved, as the tens or hundreds of thousands of settlers will need somewhere new to go. Yet, most Bedouin I speak to are resolutely for a two state solution. This fact is strongly encouraging. They seem to speak in favor of it even if it could potentially harm them.

 

It is also tragic to imagine that this Winemaker would have to abandon his livelihood and craft for peace. So many lives are going to be broken and perhaps permanently shattered by a final peace accord. Yet, it seems manifestly necessary to prevent future wars and devastation.

 

Looking out into Syria from the top of the Golan, I could of course immediately see its strategic value. This further complicates hopes for peace, as there are fears that attacks could be launched from the top of the hill. Unfortunately, whenever one country or the other has seemed ready to push for peace, it always seems that something at the last minute aborts the process. Syria’s secret diplomacy in the past few years has gone unresponded to, and Israel now seems in a poor position to make territorial concessions. Also, it is manifestly clear that any solution on the Syrian front would delay a solution to the crisis of Palestinian Statehood for even longer.

 

Peace with Syria can be delayed for far longer than can peace with the Palestinians. The Palestinian situation must be solved justly in the near future or it can not. Syria is not under a great need for land, and its statehood is already well established. As long as war can be averted with Syria, the status quo is hardly tragic.

~ by symphonyofdissent on August 2, 2007.