In the second speech of the Arab-Israeli speaker series, Dr. Robert Freedman addressed a packed room in AMR I last Tuesday. The Hopkins group Coalition of Hopkins Activists for Israel (CHAI) and the fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) sponsored Dr. Freedman's appearance as part of a series of speakers on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Dr. Freedman's central thesis was that American attempts to intercede in the conflict had been "derailed by Palestinian terrorism."
He began the speech by outlining the Bush administration's position as it came into office. He characterized it as an attitude that the "parties themselves have to solve this."
Freedman noted that the Palestinians hoped that Bush would pressure Ariel Sharon, the prime minister of Israel. Instead, Freeman said that the Bush administration backed away from the situation after the Dolphinarium attack and the resulting collapse of the cease-fire of the time.
This state of affairs persisted until Sept. 11, which Freedman characterized as "a turning point." He said the new policy was that there was "no such thing as a good terrorist," and that "Arafat didn't get the message."
"Bush's whole ethos is fighting terrorism," said Freedman, in response to a later question.
Gen. Anthony Zinni's mission at that point was met by a series of suicide bombings. Freedman said that Zinni's "mission was killed by Palestinian terrorists."
At that point, "Israelis decided not to deal with Arafat," Freedman said. He said that other incidents, such as the interception of an Iranian weapons shipment by Israel in the Red Sea in early January 2002, only confirmed this decision.
Freedman said that this new commitment pushed the administration to confront Sharon, which Bush did by pressuring Sharon to pull out of the West Bank. Israel had entered the area following a suicide bombing that left 39 dead.
"This action resulted in political attacks on Bush by domestic interests", said Freedman. Those interests included evangelical Christians in the Republican Party and Jewish groups Bush was courting for his reelection.
Eventually, U.S. frustration with the continued violence pushed the creation of the Quartet, made of representatives from the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, said Freedman.
Freedman served as a substitute U.S. representative to the Quartet, which created the so-called "roadmap' that was the blueprint for further attempts at peace.
The United States published the road map at the end of April, 2003, and Bush pushed both sides to accept its terms. Abu Mazen obtained a hudna, or truce, with groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, seeking to end the violence without causing a confrontation over disarmament.
But a series of suicide bombings effectively ended the chances of the roadmap's success.
Commenting on Ariel Sharon, Freedman said that Sharon was "not the prime minister I wish were in," but that he had "made some concessions."
He also said there was "nothing to be gained from pressing Israel" until Palestinian President Yasir Arafat dies or steps down. Freedman says that he doesn't think any progress will happen until then.
Asked later about who could bring peace, Freedman responded by noting that "Arafat's unwilling to surrender power." He reiterated that until Arafat left there was no chance for peace.
But he criticized current Israeli policy as pushing too hard. It is "not in Israel's interest to have settlements," he said.
He said Israel should build the planned security wall at the 1967 borders. An expanded wall, he said, would lead to Palestinian demands for the vote and a loss of the Jewish state through population growth.
Ilya Bourtman, the liaison between CHAI and JHU Hillel, and is in Freedman's class, said that CHAI said, "it [was] really good to actually have him talk to the whole Hopkins community and not just the kids in his class."
