LOCAL LEADERS WONDER
ABOUT THE CARDS AMERICA IS HOLDING: PALESTINIAN POKER
- Dan
Izenberg. Jerusalem Post: Aug 9, 1991
PALESTINIAN leaders are
putting on a brave and defiant face on the eve of crucial talks with American
negotiators which could determine the fate of the Mideast peace process.
As they well know, the
Americans will have a difficult time bridging the diametrically opposed
positions of the Israeli government and the Palestinian leadership.
Key figures in East
Jerusalem say one of their biggest fears is that the U.S. will sign two
contradictory memoranda of understanding to bring both sides to the negotiating
table, while at the same time sowing the seeds of future confusion and war.
What they are insisting
on are clear U.S. statements, in writing, on five basic demands which they
describe as minimal conditions. However, they refuse to say whether the demands
are minimal conditions for attending the talks or, as some have put it with
deliberate vagueness, minimal conditions for guaranteeing the success of the
talks.
The following are the
issues and the answers the Palestinians want to hear from the Americans.
* Designation of the
Palestinian delegation: An-Najah University political scientist Saeb Erakat
makes no bones about it. "The PLO has the right to choose who will
negotiate for the Palestinians," he says. "It will be the only body
to choose the representatives."
Erakat says "the
mere talk" of an Israeli veto over the choice of Palestinian delegates is
"humiliating, ridiculous and absurd. There has never been a situation in
the history of conflict resolutions in which two enemies are about to sit down
to make peace and one side chooses his own representatives and those of his
enemy."
The Palestinians add that
the PLO must be recognized as the referent of the Palestinian negotiators so
that the delegates can refer any questions that arise during the talks to the
PLO in Tunis.
* East Jerusalem: The
question of appointing a Palestinian representative to the delegation is linked
to Palestinian insistence in general on their right to choose their own people.
But, just like Israel's leaders, the Palestinians claim that the fate of the
city is the most sensitive issue in the talks. "Jerusalem is like the
heart of the Palestinians," says Radwan Abu Ayyash, former head of the
Arab Journalists' Association and one of the local mainline pro-PLO leaders.
The Palestinians claim that by banning an East Jerusalem representative from
the talks, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir is trying decide the issue in advance
and exclude it from negotiations altogether.
* The substance of the
talks: The Palestinians want the Americans to give them concrete assurances
that they interpret UN Resolutions 242 and 338 as meaning land for peace with
regard to all the territories captured by Israel in the Six Day War.
"Shamir knows it's either land or peace," Erakat says. "So when
he says 'not one inch of land,' he's fooling either himself or the Israeli
public, but he sure isn't fooling any Palestinian."
According to Abu-Ayyash,
the Palestinians do not need a peace conference to discuss improving their
living conditions under occupation. "We can go to Danny Rothschild
(coordinator of activities in the administered territories) any time to ask for
permission to build a few more factories in the West Bank and Gaza,"
Abu-Ayyash says. "We don't need Baker for that."
* The transitional
period: A key Palestinian fear is that Israel will perpetuate the transitional
period of autonomy during which it is accepted by all sides that it will continue
to maintain overriding control of the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinians want
international guarantees that this will not happen.
They also want a clear
delineation of the phases to be carried out during the transitional period and
they expect these phases to provide an ever increasing degree of independence
for the residents of the territories including control over water, land, the
economy, education, internal security and freedom from arrest by Israeli
soldiers.
* Jewish settlements: The
Palestinians want Jewish settlements stopped immediately. "Such a
difficult peace process requires time," Abu-Ayyash says. "We can't
compete with the bulldozers of Arik Sharon or the flow of settlers into the
occupied territories. Our aim is not to discuss autonomy of people only, but
also sovereignty of the land and its natural resources. The settlements
continue to create new geographical facts."
IT SHOULD come as no
surprise that Shamir's decision to attend the peace conference has not softened
Palestinian attitudes toward him. They mistrust him and his motives as much as
ever.
"Until two weeks
ago, Shamir was saying no to the peace conference until such and such
conditions were met," says Erakat. "Today, Shamir is saying yes to
the peace conference if the same conditions are met. The Americans have decided
to accept this as a yes. I don't know who the hell is fooling who. Either
Israel is fooling the U.S. or the U.S. is fooling Israel.
"Peace requires
nothing more than a genuine desire, sanity and statesmanship," continues
Erakat. "As evident from Shamir's games, he lacks all three."
The bottom line of the
Palestinian assessment is that Shamir wants peace with Syria but not with the
Palestinians. They also fear that he has found a willing partner in Hafez
Assad.
"Shamir is looking
for Camp David III," Abu-Ayyash says. "Camp David I neutralized Egypt
through peace. Camp David II neutralized Iraq through war. Now they want Camp
David III with Syria. The Syrians had two alternatives to choose from. They have
chosen the Egyptian."
As they describe the
situation, the Palestinians make it sound as though they are largely dependent
on the goodwill of the Americans. Although some leaders give President George
Bush higher marks for "fairness" to the Palestinians than his predecessors,
they all express wariness regarding U.S. intentions.
"So far,"
Erakat says, "the Bush administration has sided with Israel. That's a
fact. The Palestinians realize how one-sided the U.S. position is and it will
show very soon, if the Americans decide to accept Shamir's demand to exclude
East Jerusalem from the talks."
What indeed will happen
if the U.S. refuses to meet the Palestinian demands? Will they stay away from
the talks? Abu-Ayyash and Erakat do not rule out the possibility.
"I do not think the
Palestinians are in a take-it-or-leave-it situation," Erakat says.
"What we want is genuine peace."
According to Abu-Ayyash, "It is obvious that the Palestinians are not rejecting the peace process. We are saying we are willing to come if our minimum national demands are met."
© 1991 The Jerusalem
Post