All is not lost in the Middle East — eventually there will be peace, Dennis Ross told a crowd of 500 at U.C. Berkeley’s Wheeler Auditorium Oct. 15.
Ross, who became director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy last spring and served as Middle East peace envoy under President Clinton, offered an insider’s perspective on efforts to bring peace to the region.
Security was tight and so was the seating as Ross spoke about the situation in the Middle East, from Saddam Hussein to a possible war on Iraq. The focus of his lecture, though, was his perspective on the Palestinian-Israeli crisis, to which he offered both words of warning and hope.
These days, his optimistic testimony is rhetoric that is scarcely spoken, he acknowledged. But Ross, who was invited to speak on campus by Berkeley Hillel, well understands the stakes — he helped broker peace efforts under the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations.
The key to peace is stepping away from the slogans that each side brings to the negotiating table, said Ross, whose distinguished career in U.S. foreign policy led to his instrumental role in the Israeli and Palestinian interim peace agreement in 1995. Peace also involves debunking the myths that only serve to perpetuate falsehoods, and then re-establishing trust between the two sides.
“The problem is the two sides have lost faith in each other. They are not partners,” said Ross before a mostly Jewish audience, the majority students.
When Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was offered 97 percent of the West Bank, Gaza and eastern Jerusalem, as well as the unlimited right of return within the Palestinian state, Ross said, his refusal told the Israelis they could not have an effective working relationship.
But the Palestinians have no partner either, he added, citing the stress that Israelis have been placing on the Palestinian people during the current intifada.
“I’m painting a bleak picture, but there is hope,” he said. “The Israeli side understands that the situation has to change. And 91 percent of Palestinians want reform.”
Ross contended that the Palestinian reform movement is genuine and, especially now, is one of the most effective tools working toward peace.
“Palestinian reformers represent a different psychology, that being a victim as a strategy doesn’t work,” he said. “Being a victim as a strategy won’t work because nothing is ever your responsibility.”
It is this shift from the old ways of thinking, as well as a broad acknowledgment within the reform movement that Palestinians must assume responsibilities for building a future state, that will lead to peace negotiations.
“Unfortunately, not all Palestinians agree with this shift,” said Ross, citing the continuation of suicide bombings even after agreements have seemingly been reached. “In order to succeed, after the next suicide bomber, the reform movement must make it clear that it jeopardizes the Palestinian cause. They have to have a clear idea of what they have to gain and what they have to lose.”
The U.C. Berkeley campus has been no stranger to what Ross called mythology and slogans, which only serve, he said, to distort the truth. This was primarily why Adam Weisberg, executive director of Berkeley Hillel, a co-sponsor of the event, had sought to bring Ross on campus. The talk was also sponsored by the U.C. chancellor’s office and Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay.
“Usually we hear all kinds of rhetoric that has no relationship to reality. It’s crucial that both sides of the conflict be prepared to let go of this mythology, to start talking and to acknowledge the reality of the situation,” Weisberg said at a reception following the presentation.
Someone of Ross’ stature who has helped instigate and facilitate peace talks, he said, helps in the long run to set records straight. When he says there will be peace, and this is how, people listen.
“At some point we are going to see a change,” and this, Ross said, is not a slogan. “It’s a matter of time.”