August 20, 2008
Israel Office
Weekly Message
With much of Israel and Washington on vacation, and with many still reeling from the shock of developments in the Caucuses, this message is less about Israel than usual, although given the nature of my job Israel is never very far away from my thoughts. Yet, given the mixed feelings that I and others experience as we watch the Beijing Olympics, I could not resist the opportunity to offer my thoughts on Darfur and the failings of the international community in preventing the on-going genocide.
The Genocide Convention was adopted in 1949 in the shadow of the Shoah. Article 1 provides that "the Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish."
Richard Just's review of several recently published books in the most recent New Republic analyzes why the international community has remained impotent in stopping the killing and rampant violence. Looking back over the Darfur tragedy, the lesson that should be learned is that, in the face of an on-going genocide, leading international actors must focus singularly and with urgency on how to achieve a morally acceptable outcome. In this instance, neither the threat of a Chinese veto in the Security Council nor the reality of an over-extended US military serves as acceptable excuses for inaction.
Unfortunately, not even the energetic and high-profile international campaign has managed to Save Darfur. The question today is whether activists who have mobilized over the Darfur struggle will remain engaged or view the seeming failure to effect a meaningful change on the ground as a justification for future apathy.
More difficult to determine is whether an emphasis on prosecuting the perpetrators of genocide may conflict with the goal of bringing an immediate end to the killing. Several commentators have suggested that the July 14 genocide indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir by Luis Ocampo, prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, will make more difficult diplomatic efforts to end the fighting in Darfur. Others argue that, in circumstances where the evidence is overwhelming, criminal prosecution is an essential element in the genocide prevention tool kit and that failure to prosecute represents an additional moral failing.
Closer to the Middle East, the Turkish-mediated Israeli-Syrian peace talks have brought to the fore a similar moral dilemma. The assumption is that among Syria's demands for entering into an agreement with Israel would be the cancellation of the international tribunal established to investigate the death of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. While the existence of this tribunal is not particularly relevant to Israeli political or security concerns, the democratic forces in Lebanon would view a decision to terminate the tribunal's mandate as a sell-out of their cause.
And within Israel, the debate continues regarding the release of Palestinians who have been convicted of heinous crimes, but whose release may achieve specific objectives, whether the goal is return of kidnapped soldiers or creating an environment more suitable for peace negotiations. Understandably, these issues provoke strong emotions within Israeli society; I am loathe to prescribe easy answers, but I am convinced that leaders whose integrity is being questioned will find It difficult to project the authority necessary to make bold decisions without provoking serious societal rifts.
In this week's NIF News, we report on a grass-roots initiative by residents of Sderot, which has opened a dialogue with their neighbors in Gaza. We also report on an innovative waste recycling initiative by an NIF grantee in an Arab village in northern Israel. SHATIL highlights its recent campaign to save Jerusalem's Russian library and a cross -country trek by disabled Israeli's demanding more government assistance.
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