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July 28, 2000/25 Tammuz 5760, Vol. 52, No.46
Zero-sum gameEditorialWhen two parties view negotiations as a zero-sum game, one party's gain becomes another party's loss. There is no possibility of a "win-win."For Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, Jerusalem stands at the heart of a zero-sum game. Their 15 days of discussions at Camp David - in which neither side lost or gained so much as a square meter of Jerusalem - have left those involved angry, frustrated and anxious. And while the leaders act as if they want to achieve peace for their people, the next generation trains for war. Palestinian police teach pre-teenagers how to use AK-47s in the name of self-defense. Hamas leaders call for a renewed jihad, Muslim holy war. And Israel Defense Force Lt. General Shaul Mofaz gives authorization to settlers to use firearms to defend their families and communities. Perhaps neither Barak nor Arafat truly came to negotiate Jerusalem. The only square inch of East Jerusalem Arafat says he is willing to concede is the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. And while Barak says Israel would transfer some areas to Palestinian "sovereignty," he says also that a neighborhood given would need to be balanced by a neighborhood received, in the form of expanded areas under Israeli control. What do the leaders fear? In part, they may be concerned about personal safety. They serve in the shadow of the fate of previous leaders who dared to negotiate over Jerusalem. Jordan's Abdullah Ibn Hussein was assassinated in 1951, and Yitzhak Rabin suffered the same fate in 1996. Moreover, to stay in power, they both must deal with a number of increasingly militant political entities. The aftermath of Camp David II is increased heat under the pressure cooker of Jerusalem. Something must give - at the negotiating table, in the Knesset, in the voting booth - or on the streets. A first step would be setting aside the belief that negotiating for the city's future is a zero-sum game. Concessions will have to be made on both sides to ensure that Jerusalem, a city older than Islam and even older than Judaism, remain the City of Peace, rather than a premise for continued violence. |
