444 • 21 THE WAR ON TERRORISMBesides, most Palestinians do not live in the occupied territories; rather,
they are refugees in the Palestinian diaspora. They could not vote, even
though the winners would be negotiating with Israel over their rights.
The winner of the election was Mahmud Abbas, the head of Fatah. At
the time we were writing, Davidson expected that he would face two alter¬
natives. He could do what Israel and the US want: stop the armed resis¬
tance and agree to create isolated cantons that outsiders would call a state.
Such a policy would most likely spark civil war in Palestine, and he would
probably not live out his full term in office. Or he could try to accommo¬
date the armed groups' resistance activities, perhaps channeling them
away from suicide bombing, while simultaneously offering negotiations.
The Israelis would label him a new "terrorist" leader, doubtless backed by
the Bush administration. Ironically, the Israelis and the Americans have so
structured the "peace process" that Palestinian elections, however desir¬
able, can only produce a nearly powerless leader.
Although Goldschmidt agrees that Palestinian "terrorism" cannot match
that of the Jewish settlers, the IDF, and the Americans, Abbas's election
could well empower more moderate elements on all sides. Israel's govern¬
ment publicly claims that it will remove its settlements from Gaza; Shim'on
Peres (a Labor Party leader) is Sharon's vice premier; and most Palestinians
in the West Bank and Gaza desperately want a respite from violence,
whether from the Islamic militants of Hamas or from the Israelis. Both
Egypt and Turkey have offered, more effectively than the US, to mediate. As
of April 2005, when we were writing, the chances for peace were better than
at any time since 2000.
Outsiders' Involvement
As we have discussed, both Israelis and Palestinians have influential outside
supporters. The US government has stepped up arms supplies to Israel and
has increasingly coordinated strategy with the Jewish state in the war
against terrorism. The coordination has reached a point where the bound¬
aries between Israel's and America's interests have seemingly vanished. A
Defense Department analyst was accused in September 2004 of passing to
Israel, via AIPAC, classified US documents on Iran. Zionists cooperate with
neoconservatives to reinforce American popular support for Israel. Even
professors of Middle East studies have been targeted lately by a group called
Campus Watch if their Web sites and public statements are deemed pro-
Arab, critical of US policies in the Middle East, or hostile to Israel. Some
members of Congress, influenced by Campus Watch, have introduced a bill
that would subject federally funded foreign language and area studies cen-