Israeli Watch

Ghassan Khatib

The reason the Baker-Hamilton report was received positively by Palestinians on both public and official levels is that in many respects it reiterated arguments Palestinians have been making, both vis-a-vis the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the regional situation, in which the Palestinian issue is crucial.

The Palestinian cause is a significant part of the Arab and Islamic psyche. Leaving unresolved the injustice Palestinians have suffered because of unjustified western bias in favor of Israel is a major factor in creating regional hostility toward the West. It also convinces the peoples of this region that the stated western commitment to international legality and the compatibility of civilizations is not credible.

In any case, the report does not really alter much. The problem Palestinians have with American policy is not so much Washington’s stated positions as it is the gap between those positions and what the US does in practice. To give but one example, the official American position has always been that Jewish settlements in occupied territory are either illegal or an obstacle to peace. Yet Washington turns a blind eye to continued settlement expansion.

US failure in Iraq and in the wider anti-terrorism campaign, as well as a growing feeling, especially in Europe, that the American approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been a major factor in those failings, is what spurred Congress to commission the report in the first place. But the growing radicalization in the region, which involves a pervasive anti-western attitude, is not simply a security or political phenomenon, it is much wider.

In order to better understand the situation, we have to first acknowledge the role played by socio-economic factors, in particular the increase in unemployment and poverty, the problems facing the social sectors, especially in education, and, importantly, the growing gap, in economic and social terms, between this region and the West.

It has to be noted here that the same governments and regimes responsible for the failure to implement and encourage social and economic development programs are primarily those supported by and friendly to western governments, especially the US. This creates an impression that this support is part of the reason for these economic and social problems.

There are also cultural and identity problems. From the perspective of the people of this region, globalization, especially economic globalization, brought with it a cultural hegemony that is creating a crisis of identity and weakening the cohesiveness of society.

Socio-economic, cultural as well as political and security factors all need to be examined to come to a comprehensive understanding of the deeper roots of the growing frustration, anger and radicalization in the region vis-a-vis the more privileged parts of the world, privileges perceived to be partially responsible for the suffering of this region and others.

Finding an answer to the contradiction in the American strategy of supporting reform and democratization but rejecting its outcome when that empowers political Islamist groups might not be a bad place to start.