Palestinians plan for the 1999 declaration of state
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 5/8/1998

The latest impasse in the peace process and the subsequent possible outbreak of violence against Israel has again brought to the surface the status of Jewish settlers in the Palestinian territories.

Palestinians have always considered the Jewish settlers as colonialists whose presence on the Palestinian land not only contradict international laws and convention but denies the basic right of the Palestinians to their own land and property. In latest efforts by the PLO and the Palestinian government, preparations are being done to promote a UN Resolution that designate the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as "war crimes" that need to be eradicated.

Palestinian sources confirmed that there is a set of ideas being contemplated by the Palestinian leadership in preparation for next year's declaration of the Palestinian State. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has made it clear that regardless of what the outcome of the final status talks with Israel would be, he would declare the creation of the Palestinian independent state by May 1999, as planned in the interim agreements. But before such a declaration is made, Palestinians still need to prepare the ground for a number of steps. One of them, it is said, will be the status of the Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories.

Unnamed sources told the Hebrew daily Hatzofeh on Thursday that the Palestinians have forged contact with the Swiss government so that the Red Cross would initiate the establishment of an expert committee that would determine the precise legal status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel claims the West Bank and Gaza Strip were not occupied territories. It alleges that the Jordanian sovereignty in the West Bank and the Egyptian sovereignty in the Gaza Strip prior to the June 1967 war were not legal. Israel claims that only Pakistan and Britain recognized the unity between the West Bank and Jordan's East Bank and therefore the annexation was not legal, under international law. Similar allegations were also brought up with regard to the Egyptian rule in the Gaza Strip.

The Hatzofeh daily which broke the story said the strained relations between Switzerland and Israel over Jewish money dated back to the days of Nazi rule in Germany make it easier for President Arafat to work with the Swiss government.

Palestinians hope that the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, will submit its report to the UN confirming the status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as occupied territories. Once the status is ratified by the UN, Palestinians believe, all Jewish settlements become illegal since they exist on parts of the Palestinian state that President Arafat plans to declare next year. Besides, Palestinian plans to promote a UN resolution that considers Jewish settlements "war crimes" aim at undermining every Israeli claim of sovereignty over parts of the West Bank or the Gaza Strip once a Palestinian independent state is declared. The UN has in the past issued a number of resolutions regarding the settlements illegal and therefore the Palestinians expect no genuine difficulties. Even the US Administration, which has criticized the Jewish settlement police, might find it difficult to side with Israel and use its veto rights to torpedo a UN resolution on this question.

Other moves by the Palestinian government include a campaign to promote a UN resolution allowing the trial of occupying forces for crimes they commit against occupied nations. The move is clear and so is the aim. Soldiers of an occupying army, anywhere in the world, who hurt a local population will be tried by an international tribunal as "war criminals," even if they are tried in their own country. If such a proposal is endorsed then any soldier who abused or abuses a Palestinians, according to the UN resolution will have to face trial in an international court, even if he was tried in Israel. This is liable to create a situation in which a soldier who was convicted of having abused Palestinians -- as soon as his name goes on Interpol's lists, and the Palestinians are currently preparing such a list -- is liable to be arrested and tried the moment he leaves Israel.

The Palestinian anti-settlers campaign includes also Jewish settlers who live in the Old City of Jerusalem. Dozens of thousands of Jewish settlers live in the Old City of Jerusalem in what is known today as the Jewish Quarter, formerly the Moghrabi Quarter. After the June 1967 war, Israel leveled hundreds of Arab houses off the Western Wall, making a spacious plaza next to the wall and building huge residential compounds for Jews who arrived to live in Jerusalem.

But over the past twenty years, Israel increased its settlement activities in the Old City of Jerusalem and Jewish settlers started to take over Arab houses in the Muslim Quarter. Today, there are at least one thousand Jewish settlers who live in the Muslim Quarter among the Palestinian residents of the city. Other Jews stay in their capacity as religious school (seminary) students. They all form a powder keg in the Old City and every time tension rises in the city, they become the focal point of conflict between Arabs and Jews.

Ironically, every time a Palestinian attacked a Jewish settler, a new house was taken over from its Arab owners. After the stabbing incident in the Old City two days ago, Jewish settlers entered an Arab house near the site of the incident and said they wanted to set up a memorial for their colleague who died of his wounds.

The stabbed settler was a student in Ateiret Cohanim seminary school, one of the most infamous settlement groups in the Old City. This group has been involved in numerous moves of taking over Arab houses by means of fraudulent purchase deals or by extortion. Owners of many of the houses that were taken over by Ateiret Cohanim appealed to Israeli courts to cancel the takeover but to no avail. The Jewish settlement in the Old City was allowed to grow at the expense of the local residents' rights.

The police chief commissioner in Israel blamed the stabbing incident on the settler himself. He said the settler had disregarded police instructions not to move about in the city on his own at any time of the day, even if he was armed. Jewish settlers, usually, go around in the city while they are armed with Israeli army-issued M-16 rifles that have become part of their traditional religious outfit.

Israeli police sources said that in light of the latest impasse in the London talks and the diminishing chances of a summit meeting in Washington next week, more anti-Jewish attacks are expected. Police troops in the city received orders to remain on alert in case a new wave of violent clashes breaks out between the Palestinians and Israel, in which settlers might become deeply involved.

Previous Stories:
  Palestine denies Arafat's approval of Abu Dis as Palestinian capital   (5/7/1998)
  Palestinian intellectuals rally in Paris   (4/30/1998)
  Netanyahu fears US recognition of Palestinian state, as Ross and Indyk lack breakthrough   (4/27/1998)

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