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To every one who is concerned in peace on the land of peace!!!!
By : Ali AbuShahla - aapal@palnet.com
Introduction
I have thought on several titles for this paper .. Should I address it to the Arabs or Muslims or Palestinians or the Israelis or to the peace-loving .. Or should I address it to the west and lovers of war and to the inventors of conflicts.. But I finally chose the current title . It is addressed to them all, because each of them has an important role in not granting peace a chance ... Yes, peace is in need to a real opportunity ... Wars and conflicts took the opportunities several times but failed to give the inhabitants of this region a real lasting just peace.
Israel did not at the time commit itself to the UN resolution No. 181 of 1947, which gave Israel a Jewish state ( what the rulers of Israel at the present asking the PA to recognize !) on about 55% of the area of historic Palestine and kept for the indigenous Palestinian population 45% of the area of their homeland as an Arab State . The Jewish inhabitants of Palestine agreed and approved this resolution when it is published , but rejected by the Palestinians.
However, the Jews in Palestine after the 1948 war, declared a state over all the earth they have occupied and sent to exile the indigenous population, while they added to the UN resolution, third of Palestine (23%), which made the area of the Jewish state ( Israel ) 78% of the area of Palestine instead of 55% according to the UN resolution 181 of 1947 ..
On 1988 and When the Palestinians declared in Algeria their project to establish their own state on the remaining parts of Palestine ( Gaza and The West Bank ) which is (22%) of the historic area of Palestine , and asked the international community to recognize such state and while they stopped asking to send out of Palestine all the Jews who came to live on and stopped asking the retrieval of the land held by the State of Israel after the war of 1948 , which means their approval to amend the resolution 181 of 1947, giving Israel 78% of the territory of Palestine instead of the original decision, which gives the Jewish population 55% ... Israel began to accelerate the establishing of Jewish settlements in both Gaza and the West Bank, as a way to acquire additional land and to impose a fait accompli when signing a peace agreement with Palestinians !
After the signing of the Oslo peace accords between the two sides officially in April , 1994, there have been several attempts to sign a real peace agreement and there were the assassination of leaders of both parties who were working for peace .Instead of implementing what has been agreed upon in Oslo, The leaders of Israel began shirking from all the items that run on promoting peace in the region and began to divest themselves of any item works to improve the economic situation of the Palestinians and bring them closer to a real peace between the parties, and the leaders of Israel from the left and right began in the race to confiscate more of the Palestinian land to build Israeli settlements on it, and worked to separate the Palestinian territories geographically , and not to apply what has been agreed upon such as the implementation of a safe passage between Gaza and the West Bank!
Although the establishment of a Palestinian state on 22% of the territory of Palestine is considered as full Palestinian recognition of Israel ,and works to determine the borders of the State of Israel (which did not specify its borders since the announcement of its establishment in 1948 until now) ... Also, a Palestinian state will work to create bilateral relations between Arab states and Israel .
Despite the many claims of a large group of educated Israelis and Israeli institutions on the need to agree to establish the state of Palestine next to Israel (The Israeli institutions reported 50 reason for Israel to recognize the State of Palestine) ,but the ruling successive regimes in Israel fought and still fighting a Palestinian state and they continue to construct new settlements on the Palestinian land in The West Bank and Jerusalem in order to impose a fait accompli and swallow the largest part of the Palestinian territories.
Palestinians and Obama
I think that the conditions encountered by the Palestinians to approach the United Nations were not favorable to them .U.S. President Obama begins his campaign appeasing voters of American Jews at the expense of his promises to the Palestinian people and withdrawing all the promises he made in his speech at the University of Cairo in May 2009 .
Instead of fulfilling his promise to have a Palestinian state on September 2011, we see that he gave up all his promises to the Palestinians for a state of Palestine in the 1967 borders, rather than sticking to his promises, being the head of the largest country in the world which claims to support the peoples and to the spread democracy in this world, also he did not mention in his speech the need to stop Israel for building settlements on Palestinian land , where Palestinians want to build their state.
It was not surprising from the U.S. administration to announce officially that it will use its veto against the Palestinians approach to the United Nations, as President Obama declared from the platform of the United Nations in the 22/9/2011 that Palestinians has no right to obtain recognition by the United Nations to their own state on the land captured by Israel in 1967 war on both Gaza and the West Bank with east Jerusalem its capital .
It was not necessary for Obama to confirm his ultimate support to Israel and to maintain its security despite the certain knowledge that Israel can defend itself against all Arab countries combined ,but he insisted to hurts all Palestinians, Arabs , Muslims , and all peace-loving in the world.
The president has said in his pro-Israel 100% speech, that he feel frustrated exactly like the Palestinians ( one is very doubtful), but he did not provide any real plan or just solution since he took office as president of the United States to recover his frustration , which will enable him to recover the frustration of the Palestinians ...
As a Palestinian I do not think that Obama was disappointed for not reaching a peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis ... but in my point of view, and the vast majority of Arabs , Muslims and peace-loving people in the world that he is frustrated because he did not have the ability and the strength and courage to carry out his promises as a direct result of the Jewish and Israeli lobby pressure ,where the U.S. Congress members had to stand and applauded to the speech of the Israeli Prime Minister "Netanyahu" , about 40-50 times , as if he is the leader of the republicans in the U.S. Congress . Such act did not happen to any American president in his own home.
President Obama in his speech mentioned the Jewish suffering in the world ... and especially what happened to them from the Nazis and the killing of 6 million Jews . But he did not mention also the suffering of some 5.5 million Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora and about 5.5 million others living under the Israeli occupation through 63 years of suffering, but it is necessary to mention that Obama did not mention the absolute need to recognize the Jewishness of the State of Israel ,as Netanyahu and his government wants.
U.S. President in his speech stressed the need to return to negotiations as the only way to bring peace in the Middle East, opposing the approach of the Palestinians to the UN , but he pointed out the negotiating subjects clearly, which may not satisfy Israel , when he added to the subjects of "the border and security" other topics " Jerusalem and the refugees" , but it is noted that he reneged on his earlier promises to establish a Palestinian state within the year 1967 borders (he did not mention in his speech the year 1967), also he did not mention the possibility of land swap between the two states of Israel and Palestine, and of course he did not mention in his speech the bad need to stop construction in Israeli settlements on the remainder of the Palestinian lands in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
U.S. President went further in his support and his bias for Israel when he described Israel as a state living in the middle of Arab world hostile to it .
He ignored completely the Arab peace initiative of the year 2002 which approved the existence of the State of Israel , and have not been canceled yet, despite the persistence of Israel to reject it.
U.S. president, who spoke about the Arab states hostile to Israel, didn't mention the support of the U.S. government and the West to the Arab revolutions ( Arab Spring) ,despite the leading of Islamic groups to these revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Libya.
The Palestinian, Arab, Islamic and peace-loving people in Israel and the world disappointment of Obama's speech was great in spite of that everyone had expected that the President of the largest country in the world has begun to backtrack of his promises , as part of his preparations to the American coming elections.
Palestinians and negotiations
The Palestinians have stated their desire to return to peaceful negotiations with Israel, even after the submission of their request of the General Assembly of the United Nations to recognize Palestine as a member of the international organization, but the Palestinian president said clearly that the Palestinians would not return to negotiations if Israel continued settlements building , also he announced the need for Israel's withdrawal to 1967 borders , and also announced that he disapproves of the condition of Palestinian recognition of Israel's condition on the Jewishness of the state.
Israeli leaders seek to return to negotiations without preconditions, but to continue to build in the settlements on Palestinian lands in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and also to continue the siege and closure on the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and they are still declaring that the lands of the West Bank are disputed lands .
Palestinians negotiated for more than 18-years for peace in the Middle East, and all the organizations and the Palestinian factions agreed to have a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank with East Jerusalem its capital ( Borders of the year 1967) , including the Hamas movement , but Israeli intransigence and the desire to continue the establishment of settlements on Palestinian land , and the unlimited U.S. support did not leave to the Palestinians any choice , but to approach the International Organization to transfer the file of negotiations with the demand for United Nations-to recognize the Palestinian state within the year 1967 borders, just as it recognized the Jewish state on 55% of the territory of the historic Palestine in 1947 (during the Madrid talks in 1993, Israeli Prime Minister "Yitzhak Shamir" at the time, said that we'll negotiate with the Palestinians 20 years and will not give anything).
We live in a world which does not recognize the rights as far as his confession by force ..
I remember that we learned in our childhood that : Right is Might , but unfortunately, what is happening now is: Might is Right!!
Speeches by Palestinian President Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at the United Nations Assembly .
Palestinian President Abbas have confirmed in his speech in the General Assembly of the United Nations on the 23/9/2011 that he already submitted a request to the Secretary-General of the United Nations to recognize the State of Palestine as a state within the borders of the year 1967 borders , as a member in the United Nations, despite the enormous pressures practiced upon him by USA and the West in addition to Israel, and the political and financial threats and blackmail against the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian President "Abbas" has made a radical shift in the process of negotiating peace in the Middle East, and the popular reaction in Palestine, was identical with what was done by the Palestinian leadership, except for Hamas, which held that the application to the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian State is a waste of time and a jump in the air, ( Hamas government in Gaza refused to permit popular demonstration to express their feeling on this step for both who agree and for those who don't agree ) , as well as Islamic Jihad, which considers in determining the borders of the future Palestinian state with an area of only 22% is considered a sellout of the rights of Palestinians and Muslims in their historical Holly lands (all of Palestine).
And he also refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, because this means relocating the 1.5 million Palestinians with holding Israeli citizenship (of the second degree) , and live on their lands , which are the lands the lands of their ancestors.
The Palestinian president during his speech threatened to dissolve the Palestinian Authority in the event of Israel ,USA and the West will continue to stall, and asked to stop blatant and absolute support to the Israeli side, also he threatened to announce a nonviolence resistance against the Israeli occupation of PA territories. President "Abbas" reiterated his desire to return to negotiations with Israel, provided to put on the table a back ground to negotiate the borders (1967 borders with swap of a small percentage ), and to stop the construction in the settlements.
Later as he returned home, he said that he is calling Israel to negotiate the Paris economic agreement signed with Israel in April 1994 ( as a step to shuffle cards with Israel! ).
The Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has accused the UN members to walk automatically against Israel and claimed that the Palestinians should negotiate with Israel for the recognition of their own state and not to approach the United Nations, he also have accused the Palestinians of seeking to establish their own state without recognizing Israel.
"Netanyahu" insisted in his speech on his government's need to return to negotiations, provided objective negotiations on the borders and security together under the pretext of rising hostility to the State of Israel from Arab countries around it, especially after the change in the regimes in these countries , for not to withdraw from all Palestinian territories under the pretext of maintaining the security of Israel. He also confirmed the terms of Israel to return to direct negotiations without preconditions (Netanyahu does not recognize that the continued construction in settlements is a precondition and an obstacle to the negotiations), as he puts another condition which is that Palestinians should recognize the Jewishness of Israel as a precondition for negotiation, in addition to the strange and ridiculous request to cancel the Palestinian reconciliation between PA and the movement of Hamas!!
Initiative of the International Quartet
As a direct result of the crisis resulting from the halt of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, the international quartet has announced immediately after the speeches of both Palestinian President and Israeli Prime Minister , a new initiative ( modified old one ) . Such initiative was supposed to be announced before several months ( USA made a great effort and prevented a scheduled meeting for the Quartet on 15/4/2011) , for a return to direct negotiations between parties of the conflict, but within an agenda and for a specific period of time begins during one month and should record achievement in three months (until the end of the year 2011) to negotiate borders and security (As Israel wants ) in condition to investigate the progress of the negotiations after 6 months before an international conference in Moscow to be held (to ensure Russia's acceptance to the terms of the initiative), But the initiative did not mention the borders of the year 1967 (As Israel also wants), and the initiative did not mention the need to recognize the Jewishness of the state of Israel (as the Palestinians want). Such initiative was approved by the U.S. Administration the minute it was announced by "Tony Blair".
It should be noted that Israeli leaders accepted the initiative , where some of the Palestinian leaders rejected it , while both sides promised to discuss it thoroughly when back home .
French President "Sarkozy" proposed the recognition of Palestine as an observer state in the United Nations and not as a full member in the General Assembly of the United Nations, as Palestinians expecting . I believe that's what would happen because USA has announced publicly that it would use its unjust veto against the Palestinians' request, as it is currently pressing the Member States in the Security Council, to ensure that the Palestinian demand will not have the required majority (9 members) when it is discussed in the Security Council in order to raise the demand for voting in the General Assembly of the United Nations for not to use of the unjust veto unjust against any positive decision for fear of the passions of Arab and Islamic countries against USA ! (USA announced that it would work to delay the voting in the Security Council for several months).
What's next
What is going on in the international scene, especially from USA and the West of ignoring the national and humanitarian rights of the Palestinian people ( The only nation living under occupation on the earth ) ,and the changes occurring in the Arab and in the international policy , will not last forever .
I believe that the Arab peoples who made the revolutions against the leaders loyal to USA and the West will not agree to U.S. fully aligned policy to Israel, and perhaps this what forced the European countries to take a different position which was reflected in the initiative of President Sarkozy of France and the declaration of the international Quartet, which demands the Palestinians and Israelis to resume negotiations within a clear agenda to end the negotiations on borders and security in one year, and to recognize the state of Palestine as an observer state in the United Nations as a first stage before accepting Palestine as a full member in the UN assembly.
Will we expect both sides to agree on the initiative of the Quartet was welcomed by some of Israeli leaders and rejected by the Palestinians because it did not mention the 1967 borders on the one hand, and on the other hand it did not ask Israel to stop the construction in the settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem .
Will we witness the surrender of the Palestinians and the Arabs to USA and Western policy, which will not lead to a Palestinian state in the near future , or would the Palestinian people reject this policy and arises as the Arab peoples around it revolute , as it was expected by U.S. President as said in his speech? And whether we will witness a stand still until after the U.S. elections, and with the continued construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands in the West Bank and Jerusalem to redraw the borders of the future Palestinian state as Israel wants out of the 1967 borders!!
Would the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank , with Arab , Islamic peoples and lovers of peace be united against the U.S. and European policies aligned completely with Israel against the Palestinians, or would we witness a set back of the Palestinian reconciliation and the return to deepen the split between the 2 regimes in Gaza and the West bank , in the event of the return of the Palestinian leadership ( PA) for negotiations with Israel? !!
Would the Arabs , Muslims , and lovers of peace in the world would accept the continuity of USA and the Western policy aligned completely to Israel !
And Whether they accept the continuation of the Palestinian division , which harmed and still threatening the Palestinian hope in getting their rights to establish a Palestinian state on the small part of their historical land … Or to decide to leave the establishment of such state for the generations to come ?
Ali AbuShahla
Gaza - Palestine
aapal@palnet.com & maabushahla@yahoo.com
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