disengagement
- - | 20.02.2005 19:21
Israel's cabinet today voted in favour of removing occupying Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and from parts of the West Bank. Disengagement from these Palestinian territories, which is opposed by many of the settlers, will begin on 20 July.
Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon is reported to have said, "This will not be an easy day, nor will it be a happy day."
While this decision is to be welcomed, the cabinet also agreed on a revised route for the 'separation barrier' which runs the length of the West Bank. The barrier, in fact a wall several metres high, does nothing but continue to divide the West Bank into unsustainable cantons designed to support the infrastructure of occupying settler communities.
The Israeli Defence Force continues patrolling the territories with murderous results in what can only be seen as a military strategy designed to undermine the fragile ceasefire called by Palestinian resistance groups or as individual acts of right-wing defiance by rank and file soldiers. Despite recent accords, Palestinians are still having houses and parcels of farm land stolen on a daily basis and are still suffering the harsh everyday realities of military occupation.
Sharon is reported to have said that evacuating the Gaza settlements was necessary for Israel's future. Partial disengagement is a beginning but today’s developments do not go anywhere near far enough. Israel's future depends upon helping to create a viable Palestinian state which, at a minimum, must mean a return to the 1967 borders as set out in UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338. The Geneva Initiative, a peace proposal worked out between non-governmental Palestinian and Israeli groups, details a workable programme for such an outcome.
Geneva Peace Initiative document:
http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/geneva_eng.pdf
While this decision is to be welcomed, the cabinet also agreed on a revised route for the 'separation barrier' which runs the length of the West Bank. The barrier, in fact a wall several metres high, does nothing but continue to divide the West Bank into unsustainable cantons designed to support the infrastructure of occupying settler communities.
The Israeli Defence Force continues patrolling the territories with murderous results in what can only be seen as a military strategy designed to undermine the fragile ceasefire called by Palestinian resistance groups or as individual acts of right-wing defiance by rank and file soldiers. Despite recent accords, Palestinians are still having houses and parcels of farm land stolen on a daily basis and are still suffering the harsh everyday realities of military occupation.
Sharon is reported to have said that evacuating the Gaza settlements was necessary for Israel's future. Partial disengagement is a beginning but today’s developments do not go anywhere near far enough. Israel's future depends upon helping to create a viable Palestinian state which, at a minimum, must mean a return to the 1967 borders as set out in UNSC Resolutions 242 and 338. The Geneva Initiative, a peace proposal worked out between non-governmental Palestinian and Israeli groups, details a workable programme for such an outcome.
Geneva Peace Initiative document:
http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/geneva_eng.pdf
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No, not quite
21.02.2005 00:26
No, that's not the "minimal" demand you can make, in fact, it is more than the maximum demand you can make.
You can reasonably demand that Israel ALLOW a Palestinian state within the '67 border. The Israelis aren't responsible for the viability. They don't have to HELP the Palestinians. That's up to the Palestinians themselves and those who choose to step forward to aid them.
Do you understand? If the new state is not viable without things they have to ASK form Israle, negotiate with Israel, then they are going to have to pay a price (probably Jerusalem). And unless YOU (who claim to care for the Palestinians step forward with massive aid) the Plaestinian state will not be viable, will be forced to bargain with Israel at very unfavorable terms.
Will you pressure Jordan and Egypt to be helpful? (remember, prior to the '67 war THEY were the occupiers -- in theory there could have been a Palestinian state between '48 and '67 and it was not Israel that prevented that). Will you pay for highways to be built so that Gaza can be supplied through Egypt and the West Bank through Jordan? Will you pay yo construct airports in Gaza and the West Bank, to convert one of the Gazan fishing harbors into a deep water port than can handle modern freighters? Becuase only if YOU do these things will the Palestinians have a viable state and be abl;e to hang tough in negotiations wioth Israel.
If the Palestinians need to come in and go out through Israeli airports, if goods need to be unloaded in Israeli ports and transhipped across, if the Palestinians need to be able to have jobs in Israel to support themsleves, if they are not viable without these things, sorry my friend, too bad, Israel is NOT required to cooperate. This is NOT part of some "minimal demand" you can make. By which I am not saying that you cna't speak those words, but that they would have no moral force behind them. It's one thing to demand that the Israelis not HARM the Palestinians, quite another to demand that be HELPFUL in any way.
My expectation is that YOU will not in fact step forward to help the Plaestinians. But we'll just have to wait and see, won't we.
Mike
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