Last week I attended a discussion on ‘Ways to reinvigorate the Middle East peace process’ organised by the South-East Asia and Middle East Forum. Israeli senior embassy diplomat Ran Gidor spoke of the impressive progress made by the Palestinians in state-building, and singled out Middle East envoy Tony Blair for special praise. He repeated his government’s call for the Palestinians to return to peace talks without preconditions. Despite the Palestinians continuing to refuse to return to peace talks, Palestinian Ambassador Professor Manuel Hassassian reiterated support for a two-state solution and implored Israel to end the occupation and stop building settlements. Interestingly, the ambassador also spoke of his fear of a nuclear Iran and the threat of Islamic fundamentalism. Labour Friends of Israel vice-chair Louise Ellman MP, former Liberal Democrat Jonathan Fryer MP, and the chair of Labour Friends of Palestine and Middle East Andy Slaughter MP all spoke, alongside the diplomats, providing widely differing views on the current political situation.

Louise Ellman mentioned one person of particular interest who, I believe, we should all hope has the potential to rejuvenate the peace process. In March, Israel’s centrist Kadima party elected a new chairman, and leader of the opposition, Shaul Mofaz, in a victory that could have a significant impact on Israeli domestic and international policy. Since winning, Mofaz has attacked prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the left on social issues, embracing last summer’s social justice protests and promising to reduce income inequality and lower the cost of living. He believes these protests will return this summer and hopes to channel public discontent into support for Kadima. Mofaz comes from a poor, tough background, descending from Mizrahi (Middle Eastern) Jews, having moved to Israel from Iran in his youth, and thus speaks with some authority on these issues, usually the preserve of the left.

Mofaz’s greatest political strength is undoubtedly on security. He had a distinguished military career, joining the paratroopers as a teenager and rising to IDF chief-of-staff, overseeing the strong, and effective, Israeli response to Palestinian terrorism in the early years of the second intifada. In 2002, Mofaz entered politics when then prime minister Ariel Sharon appointed him defence minister, and, whilst undoubtedly hawkish on security, he has also proposed an important peace initiative, and attacked Prime Minister Netanyahu’s focus on Iran’s clandestine nuclear programme at the expense of negotiating peace with Palestinians.

As highlighted by Louise Ellman, Mofaz supports a two-step peace process, with an initial Palestinian state established on around 60 percent of the West Bank as a result of a major Israeli withdrawal, and incorporation of 250,000 settlers into Israel’s eastern border. In the second stage, land swaps would provide Palestinians with the equivalent of 100 per cent of the pre-1967 territory, and Israel would evacuate over 60,000 settlers. Perhaps most importantly, Mofaz insists he will be pragmatic and make historical concessions in negotiations, although only if Israel’s security needs are met. This latter point is vital because, after the terror of the second intifada and rocket attacks that followed withdrawals from Gaza and South Lebanon, any peace deal must provide Israel with security for it to be accepted and supported by the Israeli public.

The major political challenge facing Mofaz is to present himself as a prime minister-in-waiting, and reverse Kadima’s severe drop in public support by attracting votes from Likud on the right. One can assume a Kadima-led coalition would include Labor in a bloc of centrist and left parties, so Mofaz must avoid the trap of appealing to the left with attractive proposals that take votes from potential partners but fail to attract support from the center and right needed to defeat Likud. Although at the moment a Kadima electoral victory appears unlikely, Israeli politics has a propensity to surprise and quickly shift in unpredictable ways, and with Mofaz as prime minister the hopes of a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be greatly boosted.

Kadima was only formed in 2005 and, while the British and Israeli Labour parties have enjoyed a long and constructive relationship, it is important that we are open to, and look towards, progressives who share our values irrespective of party affiliation. Due to mistakes on both sides, the peace process has stalled and is in need of a kickstart, and by highlighting and supporting creative ideas that could resolve the conflict, the Labour party can be at the forefront of British attempts to assist those working for peace.

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Alex Bjarnason is a Progress member and supporter of Labour Friends of Israel, and he tweets @alex_bjarnason

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Photo: Tzipi Livni