One former warrior's roadmap to peace
If the Israeli-Palestinian conflict pushes you to despair, if you think there may be no way out, spend an hour with Ami Ayalon.
A small, hard-bodied man with the sheerest of buzz cuts, Mr. Ayalon has a warrior's résumé: former commando, former head of Israel's navy, and director of the country's internal intelligence service until last May. His security credentials include Israel's highest decoration for bravery.
Today he is a sort of an Israeli H. Ross Perot an intense man with a let's-just- fix-it approach who eschews conventional politics. He's high on the short list of Israelis who could emerge in the coming years, or even months, to lead the Jewish state.
In Ayalon's view, the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is out there, waiting, and the quicker the two sides get to it, the fewer people will die. "The agreement, or settlement, between the two sides is very clear ... to the two peoples. It is not obvious to the leaderships," he says.
A state of Israel and a state of Palestine, each with its capital in Jerusalem, is his starting point. The crux is this: "Both sides have to separate themselves from their dreams."
For Israelis, that means renouncing claims to the "Land of Israel" and removing most of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palestinians must give up the idea of a Palestine that stretches from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea and accept that refugees will return only to the Palestinian state, not Israel.
After 18 months of open conflict, after more than 12 months of leadership by a hardline former general who seems unable to pacify the Palestinians by force, Israelis are increasingly showing disapproval of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The media is busy with speculation about who could be next.
"This country at the moment is searching for new leaders ... who sort of draw the interest and curiosity of people," says David Kimche, a former Israeli ambassador who is part of a group of former government officials and military officers that Ayalon also participates in. "He comes forward with possible solutions, and that is something everyone is looking for."
"There is a kind of vacuum of leaders," adds Avraham Diskin, a political science professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who is in many ways critical of Ayalon. "So a person who is so experienced, so honest, so impressive, so charismatic he definitely has potential."
Ayalon comes under fire for the appearance of turning on the establishment he once served. "I don't find it appropriate to attack the system and the people within it, with whom you worked until a half-second ago," observes Mr. Diskin. Others doubt his political viability and his ability to defend and sell his ideas should he ever mount a campaign for office.
In an interview, Ayalon doesn't get personal. He never refers directly to the incumbent prime minister. But he is unsparing in his criticism of the government's security policies. "The number speaks for itself," he says, referring to the more than 400 Israelis who have died as a result of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the past 18 months. The policy, he adds, "is a huge failure. It's a disaster."
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