‘Israel’s condescending Ashkenazi leaders preventing peace deal’

The cultural gap between Israel’s Ashkenazi leaders and their Arab counterparts is the main reason for the fact that a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians has yet to be signed, MK Meir Sheetrit of the Hatnua party said on Wednesday.

In an interview with Al Monitor, the Moroccan-born Sheetrit criticized the “condescending” manner in which successive Israeli prime ministers and negotiators dealt with the Palestinians throughout the years, positing that this has led to “total mistrust” between the two parties.

“We speak one language, they speak another. When we talk from our viewpoint all the time, it doesn’t work,” he said, noting that if he were prime minister, he would tap Druze and other Arab negotiators to represent Israel in peace talks.

“Our whole conduct vis-à-vis the Arabs is faulty in my eyes — those people who conduct negotiations with the Arabs don’t know what Arabs are like,” asserted Sheetrit.

The former Likud and Kadima member indicated that he had joined Hatnua, headed by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, in order to promote the peace process, “because if it doesn’t happen, we will disappear.”

Sheetrit also criticized the failure of Israeli leaders to consider the possibilities inherent in the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative presented by Saudi Arabia, calling it the “best idea that has ever been heard, through which we can achieve peace.”

Sheetrit maintained that he had lobbied for the plan with every Israeli prime minister in recent years, including Ehud Olmert and Benjamin Netanyahu, to no avail.

“It is a comprehensive initiative bringing 56 Islamic countries to the table, who proclaim, ‘If you return to the 1967 borders and find a just and accepted solution for the refugees, we — all 56 Arab states — are ready to make full peace with Israel,’” said Sheetrit, calling that an amazing thing.

He said that that the Arab states, for their part, were interested in the initiative because they feared a nuclear Iran and were hoping to use the agreement to isolate the country.

Sheetrit believes that the initiative is the key to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“No Palestinian leader will sign a peace agreement alone,” he said. “Why? Because even if we agree to give them a state according to the 1967 lines, they still have to waive the right of return, and no Palestinian leader can do that without massive support of Arab countries. The only way to circumvent this obstacle is via the Arab Initiative.”

The initiative, which offers Israel normalization with the Arab world in exchange for a full pullout from the West Bank and other terms, was ratified four times over the years by the Arab League, most recently on March 27.