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Al-Ahram Weekly 14 - 20 September 2000 Issue No. 499 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 14 - 20 September 2000 Issue No. 499
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region Interview International Economy Opinion Culture Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A fate worse than extinction
By Medhat El-Zahed*
Israel and the US spared no effort in undermining Arafat's most recent tour, undertaken to rally international support for a declaration of Palestinian statehood. They sought to force him back to the negotiating table in Camp David, and to prevent him from declaring the state unilaterally.
Camp David II was strange, to say the least. The talks did not deal with the part of Jerusalem occupied after the '67 War, but focused on specific streets and alleys, and on which locations would be under Palestinian or Israeli control. Israel again denied the Palestinian refugees' right to return to their own homeland, yet affirmed that Jews anywhere in the world can "return" to Palestine -- a land they have never known -- simply because they are Jews. The negotiations reduced the Palestinian right to self-determination to a self-rule project within expanded borders, a "state" in name only, disarmed and deprived of sovereignty.
Israel's strategy is to make Arafat a watchman -- or, better yet, his own people's hangman -- and to convert Palestine into a crucible for civil war. This the Israelis see as the best guarantee of Israel's security. At Camp David, Arafat was pressured to submit willingly, thus securing Barak's place in history, and his own political death if the Arabs fail to back him.
Arafat has paid the price of peace. In order to retrieve the land occupied in 1967, he has accepted the legality of the 1948 occupation and is ready to sign a peace agreement with Israel. But Israel wants more. The Israelis are outraged because Egypt has refused to pressure Arafat into submission, and because Egypt will not accept the elimination of a vital historical, social and cultural component of the Arab world.
* This week's Soapbox speaker is a journalist at Al-Ahali.
