Friday, August 29, 2008

Olmert curbs Palestinian rights


Oslo has entered its final, tragic-comic stage. The onus now is to ensure Olmert's planned dénouement does not become a reality

A Good Piece

By Mustafa Barghouti
Al-Ahram Weekly

"Anyone who followed the Annapolis talks won't be surprised by the features of Olmert's current project. It seeks to set in stone the two- pronged strategy Israel has been pursuing since Oslo: to divide and procrastinate final status issues until they are made redundant by time and de facto realities, and to invoke security as a pretext for refusing to abide by commitments. Any mention of security refers exclusively to Israel's security, the idea being to formalise the peculiar principle that holds that those under occupation are responsible for ensuring the security of their occupiers.

Olmert's proposal is a shelf agreement. It could be put into effect immediately and would cost Israel nothing, not even a halt in settlement expansion. The Palestinian Authority, meanwhile, would have to prove two things: that it is a capable proxy policeman for the occupation and that it can resume control of Gaza. Unless it can prove this, the shelf agreement will remain on the shelf and Israel will have killed two birds with one stone. It will have deferred core issues yet again, gaining time to build further settlements, and it will be able to cast the blame on the Palestinians for failing to live up to the agreement and realise the peace that the Israeli government claims it desires.....

The Israelis are preparing, with US support, to take any agreement they reach to the UN for its blessing, thereby cancelling all previous international resolutions and laws in support of Palestinian national rights. The price Israel is exacting, alongside removing Jerusalem from the equation of Palestinian rights, is to put an end to the demands of Palestinian refugees once and for all.....

It is time for the Palestinians to stop their retreat and their disintegration. It is time for them to do more than utter timed reservations on this or that idea of Olmert. They must reject all partial and interim solutions and expose the Israeli policy of imposing de facto realities beneath the guise of negotiations that were never meant to succeed......."

No comments: