28 Dec. 2000 - 3 Jan. 2001
Issue No.514
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 28 Dec. 2000 - 3 Jan. 2001 Issue No.514 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
What they have fought for
Even if a final framework agreement is to be signed between Israel and the Palestinians according to the US's proposals, clearly biased in Israel's favour, the implementation of such a deal will remain highly uncertain, judging by the record of Israeli governments in the past seven years. Various Israeli governments have signed a slew of official agreements, besides a vast amount of other paperwork, since the 1993 Oslo deal. Yet none of these agreements has been implemented, and the Palestinians continue to suffer daily humiliation at the hands of a racist occupying force.
What can possibly be achieved in the three weeks before US President Bill Clinton leaves the White House, or even before the Israeli elections scheduled for February? What will be the fate of any deal if war criminal and Likud leader Ariel Sharon becomes Israel's prime minister?
Adding to such fears is the fact that, since President Clinton became involved in the Middle East peace process, the Arab side has always been the scapegoat when talks break down. Laying the blame at the Palestinians' door this time around, at a time when they are being slaughtered in their hundreds by Israeli troops, will be impossible. If it says nothing else, the Intifada of Al-Aqsa has conveyed the message that the Palestinians can no longer live in the shadow of unfulfilled promises and calls for unilateral "restraint" -- in the shadow of the settlements mushrooming on occupied Palestinian land.
The Palestinians want an independent state with borders they control. They want the millions of refugees scattered all over the world to return to their homeland. They want Israel to withdraw from all the territories it occupied in 1967, as it did in Egypt and as it must do in Syria. Arab East Jerusalem was also occupied in 1967, and reported deals entailing the concession to Israel of the Old City's Jewish quarter can come to nothing.
America's bias towards Israel, as the experience of the past few months has shown, only leads to violence. Even Barak, in a rare moment of clear vision, finally admitted that failing to reach an agreement with the Palestinians could only result in further isolation for Israel -- even threatening its peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan.
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