Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 30 Nov. - 6 Dec. 2000 Issue No.510

Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters

Turning the tables

While Israel continues to use force to quell the Intifada, the Palestinians are still awaiting the resumption of negotiations in the hope of reaching a final agreement that will not only end the torture to which the Israeli army subjects them as a matter of routine, but will also allow for the internationally accepted creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Judging from statements made by senior officials in the Arab world, it would seem safe to say that most Arab countries would like to see Palestinians and Israelis returning to the negotiating table after the tension in the occupied Palestinian territories has come to an end, or at least started to dwindle.

This said, anyone who has been following the peace process for the past few years will argue that it would be a mistake for the Palestinians to decide to go back to the negotiations without securing sufficient Arab backing (which they have lacked in the past) and serious international involvement to balance what has once again proved to be biased and monopolistic US sponsorship of the peace process.

Without these two factors, the Palestinians, it is safe to argue, will only be returning to negotiations that will not bring them any closer to their dream of statehood than they have been for seven years, since the signing of the Declaration of Principles in Washington

The past few days have witnessed overt and covert Arab-Israeli contact that aims to restart the peace process and even, as the Israelis hope, end the Intifada.

It remains, however, uncertain whether or not Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be able to look his people in the eye and tell them that the thousands of Palestinians who have been killed or wounded in the past two months had to die and suffer only so that he could send his top negotiators to Washington or some resort in the area to meet with Israeli negotiators, where they will hear the new US president (if the Americans decide on one at all) telling them that the time has come for them to make tough decisions, including Palestinian recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Al-Aqsa mosque and the best part of East Jerusalem.

© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved

weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg