Palestinian -Israeli conflict at impasse
Palestine-Regional, Politics, 6/29/2006

The UN International Meeting, in Vienna, convened by the Palestinian Rights Committee, during the close meeting, last night, spoke of the ongoing situation surrounding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the impasse it had reached.

The Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, said that the imminent Israeli invasion of Gaza had cast a pall over the Meeting.

That aggression required a condemnation from all and a demand that Israel, the occupying Power, stop that aggression immediately and withdraw its troops to outside Gaza.

"The Palestinian leadership, including President Abbas and the Cabinet, had indicated from the beginning of the situation, that they called on those who were holding the Israeli soldier to treat him in accordance with the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and for his immediate release unharmed. As they were doing everything possible to accomplish those objectives, the Israeli aggression had no basis, whatsoever," the meeting said.

Mansour added that despite that dark cloud, a great accomplishment had occurred, namely agreement on the prisoners' document, for which President Abbas had played a key role. He had played a key role in accomplishing the unilateral ceasefire and in convincing political groups to participate in the local "PLC" elections, drawing groups formerly not involved in the political process into the Government.

"The Israeli Prime Minister was not being faithful to the feeling prevailing among the Israelis at the moment. Responsible leaders should not "lose their heads." If 70 per cent of the people inside Israel favored peace and the same percentage were "for killing," and a similar split existed on the Palestinian side, it was the responsibility of genuine leaders to actualize positive aspects of the thinking of the people," he said.

Mathew Hodes, Director, Conflict Resolution Programme, the Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia, United States, said that he suggested that the Quartet was not really a quartet. No matter how its actions were analysed, the United States represented its centre and it held the most power within that alliance. The Quartet's emphasis, however, was on process, rather than product.

"The two things that Oslo and the Roadmap had in common were that neither had defined a destination. A peace process without a concluding "paragraph" did not have a destination. That remained the problem with the Roadmap, there was no destination, but only phases. Right now, the conversation centred on something that looked like phase 2 - some kind of interim state with temporary borders. But, the Roadmap did not allow phase 2 to get under way without first completing phase 1," Hodes added.

In the context of Israeli-Palestinian peace, he said that the domestic politics of the United States played a considerable role in the decisions of the Government. He shared former President Jimmy Carter's view that the United States remained the sole actor in the region capable of bringing the parties together.

Yahya Mahmassani, Permanent Observer of the League of Arab States to the United Nations, said that, in addressing the role of regional partners in efforts to resume the political process, it was essential to dwell on the root cause of the problem. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict was basically a conflict over Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. The numerous attempts made to resolve that conflict had not borne fruits so far because of Israeli policy to annex and occupy parts of the Palestinian territory.

He said it was clear by now that there was no military solution to the conflict. The occupation must be brought to an end by adhering to the basics of the peace process, namely the Roadmap, the Arab Peace Initiative, implementation of Security Council resolutions 242, 338, and the principle of "land for peace," and most recently Security Council resolution 1397 with its vision of two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side within secure and recognised borders.

He said that the Arab states had committed themselves to peace under several initiatives, including that which had emerged in 1991 at the Madrid Peace Conference, the 1996 Arab Summit Conference, the 2001 Egyptian-Jordan Peace Initiative, and the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002. Unfortunately, the Road Map had yet to "hit the road" and to be implemented. Israeli politics and the pursuit of military options had been instrumental in delaying the Road Map's implementation. Settlements had been expanded, a separation wall was being built on Palestinian land in violation of the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion, and a policy of resolving the conflict by force continued unabated.

"For more than five years, no serious peace talks had taken place between Israelis and Palestinians, he said. To achieve peace, stability and security for both sides required that the international community and the Quartet to exert efforts to "revive and salvage" the peace process," Mahmassani added. "That would include: a complete cessation of Israel's settlement policy, a complete cessation of the construction of the wall, ensuring that East Jerusalem was the future capital of Palestine, the withdrawal of Israel from the territory occupied in 1967 and an end to the occupation, implementation of the two-State vision, with the establishment of an independent State of Palestine on the basis of the pre-1967 borders, a just and fair solution to the plight of Palestinian refugees, and the reversal of Israel's ongoing unilateral measures."

Previous Stories:
  Israel acts violate Geneva Convention; international silence   (6/29/2006)
  International calls on Israel to halt Gaza attack   (6/29/2006)
  Abbas reiterates desire for referendum   (6/15/2006)
  Abbas: Arafat was a hero   (6/15/2006)
  HR organization: Child killed by Israel is war crime   (6/14/2006)
  Nabil Shaath: Palestinians face serious conditions   (4/28/2006)
  Palestinian government urges Muslims to pay contributions immediately   (4/26/2006)
  Iran Palestine draft resolution on agenda of upcoming Organization of the Islamic Conference   (4/19/2006)

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