Is the Israeli Democracy a Hindrance to Peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority?
| Author | Yakub Halabi |
| Date | 01 April 2016 |
| Published date | 01 April 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020881717727628 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Is the Israeli Democracy
a Hindrance to Peace
between Israel and the
Palestinian Authority?
Yakub Halabi1
Abstract
Scholars of Israeli politics have overestimated the role of the Israeli military generals
in shaping Israel’s security policy and the peace process with the Palestinian
Authority (PA). They also underestimated the role of the Knesset in the process.
This article claims that not only the Knesset has a final say in ratifying any peace
agreement with the PA but the Knesset has become a hindrance to peace. The
structure of Israeli democratic system, that is, the proportional representation
(PR) system, has boosted the power of small parties beyond their relative size,
while the party primaries bestowed autonomy on the party candidates from
their party leadership. Under these circumstances, the Israeli government has
become a weak actor, where a small party could break down the governing
coalition and topple the government. The article claims that the weak Israeli
government operates within a strong State, both domestically vis-à-vis society
and internationally. While the State security institutions are able to enforce
the rule of law and dissolve settlements for the sake of peace, the government
cannot guarantee that the legislative branch could approve such a decision.
Keywords
Israeli democracy, Peace process, The West Bank, Disputed territory, Democratic
peace theory, Proportional representation.
Introduction
According to Emanuel Kant, the founding father of the democratic peace theory,
democracies, for various reasons, such as the structure of a democratic system and
normative-liberal views, usually tend to seek cooperation and compromise with
other democracies, where two democracies incline to solve their disputes in a
Article
International Studies
53(2) 136–152
2017 Jawaharlal Nehru University
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0020881717727628
http://isq.sagepub.com
1 Adjunct Professor, School of Political Science, University of Haifa, Israel.
Corresponding author:
Yakub Halabi, Adjunct Professor, School of Political Science, University of Haifa, Israel.
E-mail: halabiy@queensu.ca
Halabi 137
peaceful manner (Doyle, 1986). Further, since citizens appreciate their rights for
liberty, they also tend to apply these rights to the citizens of other nations, and
therefore these citizens would oppose a policy of dominating another nation and
occupying its land. As a result, democratic nations develop mutual respect to the
principles of liberalism (Doyle, 1983, p. 213). This article raises questions about
the reasons behind the prolonged occupation of the Palestinian territory of the
West Bank by the democratic Israel. In theory, can the State of Israel pass a resolu-
tion that would instruct the Israel Defense Force (IDF) to withdraw approximately
to the 1967 borders, and thereby enable the Palestinians to establish a State of their
own in the West Bank, the Arab neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem and the Gaza
Strip? More importantly, does the democratic regime of Israel constitute a facilitator
or rather a hindrance to peace with the Palestinians? Israeli governments have had
declared their willingness to proceed with the peace process, while at the same
time, Israel persisted with the settlement policy, thus moving in two opposite
directions. In this case, vehement and passionate domestic demands to guard
Israel interests in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are matched by intense, yet
ineffective, international diplomatic pressures to freeze settlement constructions
and proceed with the peace process.
Most Israelis are convinced that any withdrawal, let alone dismantling of set-
tlements that Israel has had built beyond the 1967 borders, will lead to internal
unrest, the dissolution of the government coalition and literally to the fall of the
government (Hermann, Heller, Atmor, & Lebel, 2013, pp. 58, 82). In short, while
the government has enjoyed legitimacy of ordering the construction of new settle-
ments in the West Bank, the government does not possess the same legitimacy for
dismantling even some of these settlements for the sake of peace.
This study investigates the dynamics within Israel’s political institutions and
their impact on forging a long-term policy on the specific issue of the peace
process with the Palestinian Authority (PA). The paramount question is: How do
democracies settle territorial disputes which entail withdrawal from an occupied
territory (James, Park, & Choi, 2005, p. 803; Ripsman, 2002, p. 38)? And could the
Israeli government, given its majority coalition, convince the Knesset to ratify a
peace agreement that it would sign with the PA? Put differently, would the prime
minister (PM) of Israel be (un)willing to seek a peace agreement that later on may
(not) be ratified by the Knesset? Two factors may preclude a democratic State from
seeking a peace agreement with its neighbouring entity: First, territorial with-
drawal by a democracy can be a major obstacle to conflict settlement due to the
strong pressure employed by domestic interest groups, such as army generals or
the community of settlers in these territories. Second, since the Knesset is the
supreme authority in the State of Israel and it is politically autonomous of the
executive branch, the Knesset may refuse to ratify an agreement signed by the PM.
This article claims that there are five loci of power in Israeli politics that can
affect foreign policy regarding the future of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and
East Jerusalem: the IDF, the Knesset, the government, the Supreme Court and,
finally, the financial institutions (including the treasury ministry and the central
bank of Israel). The article contends that the centre of power has gravitated from
these institutions into the Knesset. The main factor affecting the peace process
with the PA is the fragmentation within the Knesset that is manifested in the
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