BEIRUT — Every morning I sit in my living room, read the newspapers to track the latest Arab-Israeli developments, and watch my water turtle Jerry exert heroic efforts and make lots of noise in his tank as he burrows beneath the colorful stones, fake coral, and large wooden driftwood stump that dominates his world. As he churns hard with all four arms and legs together, he always ultimately pushes his entire body beneath the driftwood and the stones, with only the tip of his small head, with its alert eyes and long, shapely nose, sticking out into the water, watching for food and predators.
Tired from exerting so much energy, but feeling safe in his camouflaged state, he sleeps, only to repeat the whole ritual the next morning, when I also repeat mine, sitting nearby in my easy chair reading the newspapers to see if there is anything new in the quest for Arab-Israeli peace.
A year ago, when he was smaller and more feisty, Jerry would occasionally muster all his energy, paddle furiously with all four feet, swim across the entire water tank making believe he was a flying fish, and leap out of the water towards the tank rim. Grabbing the rim with his front legs, he would paddle like a maniac with his back legs, and leap out of the tank.
Once out, and finding life in our living room either uninteresting or disorienting, he would scamper to the nearest dark, sheltered corner, pull his head into his shell, and sleep. We would find him eventually, scold him mildly while secretly admiring both his daring spirit and muscular prowess, and put him back into the water, where he would repeat this drama days later. Once he made it out of the living room and into the kitchen, where, perhaps unable to open the refrigerator, he found a dark corner and went into sleep mode.
Jerry has grown larger now, and no longer leaps out of his tank, perhaps because the adventure has lost its allure, or he’s too big to paddle fast enough to leap out of the tank. Maybe he’s just amassing protein and saving his energy for one last try.
I have owned Jerry the turtle for three years now, but have been following Arab-Israeli issues for four decades of adult life. The two seem to have settled into a similar pattern: Regular rituals of much noise, energy and action, tinged with some anticipation of something new, ultimately lead to the same predictable routines and safe, dark corners, where immobility rules.
As I watched Jerry this week I was also thinking of the upcoming Arab summit, the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s statement on March 22, that Israel was willing to make “painful sacrifices” for peace. Over and over, my daily morning personal counter-quartet of Jerry the turtle, Condoleezza Rice, Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas repeats the ritualistic rites of the past, only occasionally with new vocabulary or new leaps into the unknown.
Rice and Abbas’ “political horizon” is this year’s equivalent of Jerry adventurously making his way to the kitchen, in a flash of novelty and innovation, even some daring, that generates momentary excitement. Yet ultimately, we seek refuge in familiar dark corners, where the head retreats into the shell, and we are shielded from the realities and challenges of our world.
There is something unimpressive and unrealistic — almost desperately fantastic — about new expectations being generated for this diplomatic season, revolving around the Arab summit’s relaunching of the 2002 Arab peace plan, Olmert’s nice, vague statements, another Rice visit, and the Palestinian Hamas-Fateh coalition government. This is a grotesque ritualistic dance, performed by a sad troupe of actors characterized primarily by a massive collective lack of credibility, profound insincerity, and deep political immobility.
I’m not sure why anyone pays attention any more to Olmert, Abbas, Rice and the Arab summiteers, other than that they control large amounts of money and huge military arsenals. Trying to break the Arab-Israeli stalemate by asking the Arabs to revise and improve their peace plan, while not asking Israel to reciprocate in kind, is the biggest indicator of the depth of the diplomatic and ethical gutter we are in, and why we will not get out of it with this cast of failed characters.
I know that Jerry my water turtle will at least attempt one more heroic leap out of his tank in his life, which is more than we should expect from the Rice-Olmert-Abbas-Arab Summiteers. These characters remain immobilized by their own plummeting credibility, efficacy and legitimacy, because they continue to play by Israeli-American rules, rather than summoning the courage to craft a win-win situation that responds simultaneously to the legitimate rights of Israelis and Arabs alike. My turtle Jerry can teach them all some important lessons about daring to leap, even if they fail once or twice.
Rami G. Khouri is an internationally syndicated columnist, the director of the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut, editor-at-large of the Beirut-based Daily Star, and co-laureate of the 2006 Pax Christi International Peace Award.
Copyright ©2007 Rami G. Khouri / Agence Global
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Released: 26 March 2007
Word Count: 819
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