Palestine Tet – 12 – All We Are Saying, Is Give Peace A Chance. Rob Prince’s remarks to U.S. Congressman Jason Crow at a Meeting Organized by the Colorado Palestine Club. Denver, Colorado October 31, 2023

Not Shooting Stars But Missiles Wreaking Hell and Ethnic Cleansing on Gaza Palestinians

All We Are Saying Is Give Peace A Chance: The Case for a Cease-Fire

Remarks of Rob Prince at Public Meeting With U.S. Congressman Jason Crow Organized by the Colorado Palestine Club. Second Home Adult Center. 2990 S. Peoria, Aurora, Colorado. October 31, 2023

Congressman Crow:

My name is Rob Prince. I am a retired Senior Lecturer of International Studies of the University of Denver’s Korbel School of International Studies. For the past thirteen hears I was a political commentator on the Middle East on “Hemispheres: Middle East Dialogues” on KGNU in Boulder.

Congressman Crow,

On January 6, 2020, you showed courage that literally saved lives, in that case, the lives of members of Congress and the congressional staff.

Once again, we assembled here, are asking you to show courage in a different way to save, in this case, perhaps thousands of lives, maybe more – by publicly calling on the Biden Administration to support an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Palestine as well as addressing the increasingly unspeakably horrible humanitarian crisis that the people of Gaza are facing as a result of Israel’s murderous bombing campaign, its shutting off of badly needed social services.

In the past few days, the Biden Administration’s position has “evolved some” from giving Israel “a green light” to continue to pulverize Gaza’s 2.2. million residents to supporting “a pause.” This is a result of both confusion, both in Washington and Tel Aviv over the dangers of proceeding with a ground offensive in Gaza as well as a response to the growing outpouring of world public opinion.

All well and good but …

A pause is not a cease-fire, the latter having much more traction for peace and a much stronger legal standing based on international law.

A cease-fire could be the first step towards reducing and then freezing the armed conflict, and towards putting together an international negotiating process with the goal of addressing both the current fighting as well as the deeper, underlying causes of the conflict.

A “pause” by its very nature, is far less productive and unstable, as it suggests, by its very nature, that an armed conflict will start up again. Pressure for an immediate cease-fire is international. A few days ago, by a vote of 120 for, 14 against and 45 abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for an immediate and sustained humanitarian truce, essentially a ceasefire.

With a “pause” the parties can and do rearm for the next round or are more likely to. It is not impossible to do so with a formal, internationally U.N. Security Council approved cease-fire, but is much more difficult as there are mechanisms in place (peacekeepers) to limit such activities.

Its time for the United States to join – rather than be in opposition to – world public opinion by formally endorsing a cease-fire and pressing its well known Israeli ally to accept its terms.

The advantages of implementing a cease-fire are many:

$ The most obvious, it will put an end to the bloodshed, the trauma the massive physical destruction of infrastructure and property in Gaza. It will permit tens of thousands of Israelis to return home to the areas of conflict in both the north and south of Israel and to reorganize life among the Israeli towns near Gaza

$ An immediate and sustained humanitarian truce, a cease-fire, reduces the prospect of the war expanding beyond its present participants, still a dangerous possibility.

$ A ceasefire changes the momentum from escalating war to escalating peace. It is an vital confidence building measure needed as a precondition for any future peace negotiations

$ Recent polls indicate that 66% of Americans overwhelmingly support a cease-fire, including a full 80% of Democrats and more than 50% of Republicans). In this respect the people are ahead of the President and Congress

Don’t you think it time for the President and Congress to catch up?

$ It is not a cliché to argue that there is no military solution to the antagonism between Israel and Palestine. This recent conflict has clarified that despite the disparity in weaponry, technology and the lopsided sizes of their militaries that both sides can damage each other severely both militarily and politically. They resemble two prize fighters slugging it out, both of which have learned the weak points of their opponent. Militarily neither can win, outmaneuver or outgun the other.

Time to stop the fighting and begin to construct a negotiating structure leading to peace

Both the United States and Israel have opposed a cease-fire on the basis that there is no clear Palestinian partner with whom to negotiate and further that they refuse to negotiate with Hamas. This is not an insurmountable problem that some have made it. At this point I will only make a few general remarks:

The first being where there is a will to negotiate, the parties will find a way.

Secondly, any serious study of U.S. post World War Two diplomatic history reveals a long history of publicly refusing to negotiate with certain parties, often called “terrorist” – China in the 1950s, Vietnam in the 1960s, the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1970s to note three examples; actually there are many more. A more recent example, while both Democratic and Republican Administrations were calling “foul” where it concerned the Islamic Republic of Iran, they were “secretly” negotiating with its leadership for years that produced the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or Iran Nuclear Deal. As my former colleague at D.U. Korbel, Karen Feste, who has written extensively on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations frequently noted to me informally: Whomever Washington says it will not not “under any circumstances” negotiate with, that is precisely with whom we are secretly negotiating with somewhere…

Finally one related point to keep in mind that seems to be lost recently in Washington DC: one negotiates with adversaries; one “consults” with allies friends.

Given your military experience, Congressman Crow, you know better than most all of us how quickly military situations can go awry, leading to even greater conflagrations and more unpredictable cycles of violence.

And because of your understanding of the horrors of war, you better than most, know about the urgency of constructing an architecture of peace.

We hope you meet this challenge by publicly coming out in support of a cease-fire.

All we are saying … is give peace a chance.

Thank you for your time.

Rob Prince is a retired Senior Lecturer of International Studies, University of Denver, Korbel School of International Studies. For the past 13 years he was a political commentator on KGNU-Hemispheres-Middle East Dialogues hosted by Jim Nelson.

Voters Agree the U.S. Should Call for a Ceasefire
UN General Assembly adopts Gaza resolution calling for immediate & sustained humanitarian truce

Democrats Splinter Over Israel as the Young, Diverse Left Rages at Biden