Issue No. 591
Editorial
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20 - 26 June 2002 Issue No. 591 Editorial |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Constant attrition
There is little hope in Arab capitals, let alone among Palestinians, that the long awaited statement by US President George W Bush on the Middle East will provide a just and balanced plan to end ongoing turmoil in the region. What has been leaked so far to the US and Arab media suggests that Bush favours yet another gradual plan, without any specific deadlines or timetable.
Pessimism deepened with the introduction, by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, of the qualifying term "provisional" attached to any Palestinian state. The appendage would remain until a final agreement is reached on all aspects of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, including such contentious issues as East Jerusalem, refugees and settlements.
The concept of a "provisional state" provoked disbelief in Arab countries, including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and provoked Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher to respond that the only thing that must be "provisional" is Israeli occupation, not the Palestinian state.
The "provisional" tag pulls the carpet from beneath the very concept of statehood, rendering it an impermanent condition, and one, in this context, subject to the vagaries of Israeli policy. It provides for an interim entity that, depending on Israel's whim, could be abolished, placing everyone back at square one.
Talks on any final agreement must have a fixed timetable and the guiding principle for such negotiations must be Israel's withdrawal from all territories occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem and the dismantling of illegal settlements in the West Bank, together with a recognition of the right of return of Palestinian refugees forced by Israel to leave their homeland.
The Palestinians and Israel signed the 1993 Oslo deal as an interim agreement leading towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within five years. Almost a decade has been lost since then in futile negotiations and no one has a right to expect Palestinians to engage in yet another cycle of ultimately useless talks. Provisional plans do not solve problems, they defer them. And as any comprehensive settlement is put off to yet another day the spiral of violence continues, with ever more catastrophic results. It is a process of attrition no state in the region can sustain indefinitely.
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