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8/5/2002 (2:07) |
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To take peace effort forward
By Hassan Tahsin
While the Arab media received the recent Middle East peace proposals by President George Bush with serious reservations, it got enthusiastic endorsement from Ariel Sharon. He took it as a green signal to continue his war crimes in Gaza.
Viewing his actions, it is fair to suspect that he aims to sabotage the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to rein in the Palestinian freedom fighters. Sharon’s move are calculated to add to their fury so that they will strike with more violence, which will, in turn, anger and alienate peace brokers.
However, Bush seems to be determined to push ahead with the peace efforts. He has allowed a Palestinian delegation to visit Washington to brief the administration on the PA’s efforts to improve its performance, including security arrangements. Let us hope that, despite all the obstacles, these efforts will succeed in stopping the cycle of violence and pave the way for serious peace negotiations.
But to what extend will the PA be able to comply with the conditions laid down by Bush for peace, under the current realities prevailing in the occupied territories? While half of the Palestinian territories are under an Israeli siege, the other half is reeling under a day-and-night curfew imposed by the occupation forces. Several leading international media commentators have raised serious doubts about the PA’s ability to comply with the conditions laid down by Bush, while its hands are tied.
The Guardian described Bush’s vision as both a fantasy and a riddle, noting that Bush’s proposal fully satisfied Sharon’s whims. The vision, seemingly, served as a green signal to Sharon to go on with his evil designs in the Middle East. The newspaper also disagreed with Bush and Sharon by stressing the role of Arafat in establishing peace in the region.
It also pointed out that the core of Bush’s message was that the Palestinians should embark on an agenda of comprehensive internal reforms before returning to the negotiation table. The proposed reforms included transparent democratic governance with an economic system free from corruption. The US also insists that the judiciary should be free from the legislative wing of the government. The peace vision contains a number of impossible conditions to be fulfilled by the PA if Palestine wants to win independence. A stable constitutional system is not an easy matter, particularly when the internal system in Palestine is on the brink of collapse. The newspaper noted that even in Britain there was no total separation of powers between the judiciary and the legislative system.
The American proposals did not put on Israel conditions such as withdrawal from Palestinian towns and freezing of Jewish settlements until after the Palestinians fulfilled the large list of impossible American conditions. In other words, Sharon can continue violating Palestinian rights as long as Arafat is at the head of the PA.
Even the New York Times considers smooth conduct of elections in the Palestine territories next to impossible in a land where an occupation army has imposed total curfew. Palestinian ministers complain that, while under curfew, they cannot visit any town and there is no point in enacting laws when they cannot be executed.
Therefore, the American administration should replace the impossible conditions with realistic demands within the power of the Palestinian officials. Nobody questions the demand for a change for the better. But total change cannot be achieved overnight. If the process is to move forward, the US should ask Israel to withdraw its forces from the Palestinian land for the successful implementation of the conditions.
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