Friday, August 30, 2002

Perez writes about the what feels are the 'roots' of the problem between Israel and the Palestinians.

The battle does not constitute a struggle for national liberation, for we offered the Palestinians self-determination, ever since the Camp David agreement with the Egyptians 15 years ago. It also does not relate to a Palestinian state, to which we agreed in principle in Oslo in 1993, and again explicitly at Camp David in 2000.

It is also not over territory. In a statement made in Oslo, Yasser Arafat demanded that the Palestinian state be established within the 1967 borders, and in Camp David in 2000, President Clinton offered him 97% of the territory, plus a land swap of 3%. He also offered the Palestinians an independent status in Jerusalem.

Neither does it relate to settlements. The present Israeli government undertook not to establish new settlements. And with the existing ones, it was proposed that they be concentrated in a determined area, 3%, the equivalent of the land intended for swapping

Nor does the conflict relate to Israel's credibility. Israel gave Egypt back all its land, water, and oil and all this through political negotiations conducted by the right wing of Israel's political spectrum. This also applies to Jordan in this case, negotiations were conducted by the left.

He admits there are still issues that need to be addressed.

Some problems were outstanding: refugees, border crossings, air passage, the mode of connecting Gaza to the West Bank, contiguity of territory.

But he feels those cannot be reasons for the violence that marks the conflict. What is it then?

In my view, the violence stems from an erroneous political structure on the Palestinian side. The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) was a body that was made up fundamentally of a Palestinian coalition of the terror organisations, among them Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Palestinian Liberation Front, to name a few.

In Oslo, the PLO agreed to divest itself of violence. This, it transpired, was not agreeable to all the PLO coalition partners. Some did not accept laying down their arms and abandoning terror.

But when it came to an agreement with Israel, the divergence between Fatah and the other organisations surfaced. Fatah is a national movement ready to also take the political road. The other organisations are religious groups, intent on destroying the "infidels" among them, Israel.

< email | 8/30/2002 08:10:00 PM | link