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Staying Focused: One Viable
Palestinian State Alongside Israel
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US Statements: One Palestinian People,
One Palestinian State
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Mideast Diplomacy: Arab League
Mission, Quartet, Sharm El Sheikh,
Pope/Bush Meeting
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Jerusalem News: Residency Status
Issues, Palestinian Christian Housing
and Risking Radicalization
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Humanitarian Update: The Situation in
Gaza
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1.
Staying Focused: One Viable Palestinian State Alongside Israel
As new scenarios for the future of
Israel and the Palestinians are bandied
about, perhaps the best recommendation
is to keep one’s eye on the prize: a
viable Palestinian state living in peace
alongside a secure Israel. While the
takeover of Gaza by Hamas and the
current breakdown in Palestinian
governance creates serious challenges
and daunting complexities, it does not
alter the fundamental nature of the
conflict between Israel and its
neighbors nor does it change the
calculations by which the two-state
solution has gained international
support. As Secretary Rice said on June
18th, “there is one
Palestinian people and there should be
one Palestinian state”. A political
horizon for a viable and contiguous
Palestinian state alongside Israel will
empower those Palestinians who seek
peace and the United States must
intensify efforts to reach that goal.
The Administration should continue to
work with Prime Minister Olmert and
President Abbas to move toward
substantive peace negotiations and
should engage with Pres. Abbas to help
him pursue Palestinian statehood, unity
and rule of law.
Despite the recent Palestinian factional
hostility, there have been some new
diplomatic developments with the June
summit in Sharm El Sheikh, the
appointment of Tony Blair as
representative of the Middle East
Quartet and just announced on Sunday,
the Arab League mission to Israel. For
any real progress to be made though,
diplomacy must be serious and
sustained. A recent
poll of Israeli and Palestinian
public opinion shows little expectation
for a reinvigorated peace process. Five
years after President Bush pledged
American support for a Palestinian
state, the need for high-level U.S.
engagement to reawaken hope for peace is
more urgent than ever. While a
resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict is not a panacea for all
problems of the Middle East, anything
less than a negotiated two-state
agreement is a recipe for continued
instability and further radicalization
of the region. Below are articles by
Israeli, Palestinian and American
experts outlining possible steps forward
to preserve the two-state vision and
navigate the current reality.
“A rethink on the Middle East”,
Daniel Levy, Boston Globe, July
3, 2007
“…Despite all the sloganizing about a
three-state solution, or two governments
with no state, the driving paradigm of a
Palestinian state that includes the West
Bank, Gaza, and a Palestinian East
Jerusalem being established alongside
Israel still offers the best future for
both peoples. Egypt will not absorb
Gaza, nor Jordan the West Bank. A bi
national, one-state solution would mean
that the Jewish people would no longer
have self-determination and the
Palestinians would continue to be denied
it. In spite of the geographical, and
even cultural, distance that separates
the West Bank from Gaza, they are still
both inextricably linked in the
Palestinian national narrative…The new
urgency is in finally ending the
occupation and achieving a Palestine
living in peace alongside Israel. Delay
has been the enemy, not the friend of
achieving a permanent status
compromise…It is approaching seven years
since the last Israeli-Palestinian
political negotiations and the last US
effort to frame the parameters of a
solution. In the context of today's
regional instability, there is an added
urgency to moving beyond the occupation
toward an agreed and secure border
between Israelis and Palestinians. It is
more difficult today. It will require
deft political management,
inclusiveness, and an ability to work
several channels at once. The strategic
change that is required is not simple,
unpalatable to many, and made all the
more so by recent events. Our friends in
Fatah, Abbas, Fayad, et al., cannot do
it alone. Hamas will need to be on the
inside of the proverbial tent….There is
still a route back to a sustainable
two-state solution, and it is more
urgent now. Of course, a serious
strategic re think would benefit from a
US decision to make this issue a
priority, as the Iraq Study Group
suggested and as the regional
environment demands. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice has described her
foreign policy ethos as American realism
-- it is time for that realism to be
applied to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.”
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/07/03/a_rethink_on_the_middle_east?mode=PF
“Can politicians seize the
opportunity?”,
Hanna Siniora, The Jerusalem Times,
June, 30 2007
“…In the next twenty-four months, an
active policy of stabilization in the
region should be the primary
responsibility of the leaders of Israel
and Palestine, the Arab countries and
the international community as expressed
in the Quartet. On the Palestinian side,
the President should work toward
creating a political horizon with his
Israeli counterparts. The Palestinian
public has fully supported Abbas in the
aftermath of the armed takeover of Gaza
by Hamas, but the public also supports
the Arab effort to pave the way to
internal Palestinian reconciliation that
will allow eventually a second national
unity government…The Quartet has a
special super-envoy, the newly anointed
former PM Tony Blair; his main job is
not to see that humanitarian aid reaches
Gaza, or to ease the movement of people
and goods. Blair's main job is to create
a political horizon for Abbas and Olmert,
discretely, away from the media, to
narrow the gap on final status issues
and help all the parties in the conflict
- Israelis, Palestinian, Syrians, and
Lebanese - take advantage of the window
of opportunity that the Arab peace
initiative provides…Dark clouds cover
the whole region, and as all sides
believe that no military solution exists
for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
they should cooperate to work for a
negotiated settlement…”
http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?sid=0&id=21282
“'West Bank First': It Won't Work”,
Robert Malley and Aaron David Miller,
Washington Post,
June 19, 2007
“…The United States and others should
support Abbas and encourage progress in
the West Bank, but smartly. Sticks for
Gaza coupled with carrots for the West
Bank will divide Palestinians,
radicalize Gazans, provoke violence by
those who are left out and discredit
those the United States embraces.
Dividing Palestine geographically is no
more a recipe for success than dividing
Palestinians politically. We should not
be fooled by Abbas's rhetoric. Sooner or
later he will be forced to pursue new
power-sharing arrangements between Hamas
and Fatah and restore unity among
Palestinians. As the United States and
others seek to empower him, they should
push for a comprehensive
Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire in Gaza
and the West Bank, which will require
dealing -- indirectly at least -- with
elements of Hamas. They should resist
the temptation to isolate Gaza and
should tend to its population's needs.
And should a national unity government
be established, this time they should
welcome the outcome and take steps to
shore it up. Only then will efforts to
broker credible political negotiations
between Abbas and his Israeli
counterpart on a two-state solution have
a chance to succeed…”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/18/AR2007061801365.html
