Will these Palestinian and Israeli leaders achieve peace?
A re-entry into politics of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan could bring about pragmatic moves towards a two-state solution.
Mohammed Dahlan, the former Palestinian security head, is preparing for his moment of return. A Palestinian official close to Dahlan told Al-Monitor that the Palestinian general was very dismayed with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision to partake in former President Shimon Peres’ funeral on Sept. 30. Thus, he intends to use the public tumult around Abbas’ cooperation with Israel, including on security cooperation, to possibly return in the foreseeable future to the West Bank and to Palestinian politics, eyeing for the top.
Israeli officials are intrigued by Dahlan and his political prospects. There is a similar interest within the Palestinian Authority about the possible re-entry of retired Gen. Ehud Barak into Israeli politics. Both men are seen by the opposite side as a possible hope for more pragmatic policies.
A senior PLO official who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity said that former Prime Minister Barak is a well-known figure to Palestinians. “We like him about as much as he likes us,” he said ironically. “Our experience with him is bitter. He is a narrow-minded occupation general, who, as prime minister, fooled late [PLO] President Yasser Arafat and US President Bill Clinton about having moderate proposals on the issues of borders and East Jerusalem; while, in reality, his positions were extremely hawkish. He was looking to blame Arafat for the failure of the talks in Camp David in the year 2000,” he argued.
On the other hand, the official praised Barak for having said that if he were Palestinian, he would have been a terrorist. He added that, given the Netanyahu government’s annexation policies, any more pragmatic alternative must be looked at with interest.
