c. 1998 Religion News Service

(Salam Al-Marayati is director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles.)

UNDATED _ When measuring the success of the Oslo Accords signed five years ago Sunday (Sept. 13), American values such as human rights and democracy must be considered along with the agreement’s ability _ or inability _ to gird a permanent settlement in the Israeli-Palestinian quagmire.

From this perspective, it’s important to note that the famous handshake on the South Lawn of the White House between Yasser Arafat and the late Yitzhak Rabin has failed to live up to expectations _ just as it has failed to alleviate Israel’s insecurity or provide Palestinians with independence or economic advancement.

Oslo’s foundation is the land-for-peace formula: Israel was to end its military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in return for the Palestinian Liberation Organization ending its state of war against Israel _ a commitment to which it has held.

The Israeli commitment to that understanding ended when Yigal Amir, a militant fundamentalist, killed Rabin. A cycle of chaos, suicide bombings and hysteria led to the election of Benjamin Netanyahu, known for his anti-Oslo orientation. Netanyahu’s handpicked ambassador to Washington, Zalman Shoval, recently referred to the U.S.-sponsored peace process as a”big mistake.” As for democracy and human rights, consider a report by Amnesty International, the human rights watchdog group:”In a spiral of violence, killings of Palestinians by Israeli security services or settlers have led to suicide-bombings and the deaths of Israeli civilians. … These have led to waves of arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, torture and unfair trials.” Since Oslo, Israel has, according to Amnesty, arrested more than 10,000 Palestinians and Israel’s Supreme Court has legalized torture in certain circumstances.

Amnesty also noted that the Palestinian Authority, the successor to the PLO, out of its desire to placate the United States and Israel, has violated the human rights of its own people by its treatment of Palestinian opponents to Oslo.

Muslims have no doubt as to the truth of Amnesty’s conclusion, though it must be added that the PA has also failed of its own accord to establish democracy or adhere to human rights norms in the territory it controls. Arafat has failed to establish an economic infrastructure in his emerging Palestinian nation, but he has managed to create a nascent police state.

The United States, as the remaining superpower, wields great influence in the Middle East, despite the great disappointment felt in Muslim nations over Washington’s poor performance.

Democracy and human rights are values taken seriously by the masses throughout the Muslim world _ in part because many of their governments fail to uphold either of them _ while we in America, caught up in the stock market and Clinton’s troubles, take them for granted until our government invokes them, rightly or wrongly, to justify military intervention.

But if Oslo is to succeed, America must stress those values as the Middle East peace process continues to unfold.

There can be no more displays of U.S. weakness as was evident when first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton announced her support for a Palestinian state _ only to have White House spokespeople immediately issue disclaimers. There is more support for a Palestinian state in the Israeli Knesset than in the U.S. Congress _ despite the establishment of a Palestinian state being the only logical outcome of our professed bedrock belief in democracy and human rights.

In a recent speech to Arab and Muslim Americans, Clinton encouraged persistence in the drive for Israeli-Palestinian peace. In doing so, he alluded to South Africa’s Nelson Mandela.

Clinton said;”He actually made himself overcome his hatred of his oppressors so that he could wait and endure 27 long years until he could bring it all together.” Muslims clearly see Israel as the oppressor in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That aside, Mandela’s action surely reflects the sort of commitment to values required of the United States if democracy and human rights _ not to mention peace _ are ever to flourish in Israel-Palestine.

Five years after Rabin and Arafat pledged a new beginning for the Middle East, we still await an American show of American values in its dealings with Israel and Palestine.

IR END ALMARAYATI