Palestinian Authority still pushing for peace [Archives:2004/738/Local News]

By Peter Willems
For the Yemen Times
The recent assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdulaziz Rantisi dashed hope among many for the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians to get back on track. Rantisi, who replaced Yassin as the leader of the militant group Hamas, was killed last month just a few weeks after the assassination of Yassin. And the assassinations came at a time when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continued to rage on.
But according to Saadi Salama, Acting Ambassador for the State of Palestine in Yemen, the Palestinian Authority is still devoted to carry out the peace process.
“The Palestinian Authority is still committed to continue the peace process based on the principles of the roadmap drawn up by the Quartet – the United States, Russia, the EU and the UN,” Salama said to Yemen Times. “But the Israeli unilateral decisions have not matched the roadmap. The ball is in Israel's court. If it wants to minimize casualties on both sides, it needs to reconsider their current policy and get back on track for the peace process. This is the only way that could minimize casualties.”
Since violence erupted in 2000, more than 2,700 Palestinians and 950 Israelis have been killed.
And even though the Palestinian Authority, headed by Yasser Arafat, is willing to return to negotiations, Salama states that the conditions Palestinians are facing gives them the right to resist.
“The Palestinians have had no choice but to resist by the means which they have in their hands,” said Salama. “Since we are under occupation, we have no other alternative.”
Numerous countries have condemned the assassination of Rantisi, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. Along with Arab nations, Canada, France, Greece, Iran, Japan and Turkey were among countries that condemned the attack. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham said soon after the assassination that it will stir more hatred and further more violence.
Salama delivered the same message. “The assassination is in line with Sharon's current plan he has implemented to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. They would like to minimize the power of Hamas in the Gaza Strip before their withdrawal,” said Salama. “The policy of assassination has never been successful because conducting assassinations increases anti-Israeli feelings among the Palestinians, and the anti-Israeli feelings will go up day-by-day which will make the situation worse.”
Also under criticism was the statement made by President Bush after he met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Washington three days before Rantisi and his two bodyguards were killed. Bush supported Sharon's decision to withdraw troops and Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and endorsed the plan for Israel to pull out of parts of the West Bank while leaving some settlements intact. The Israeli unilateral decision is seen by many as conflicting with the roadmap to peace.
Mary Lord, Assistant Secretary-General for Peace and Conflict Resolution for American Friends Service Committee – which provided humanitarian aid to thousands of Palestinian refugees during the Arab-Israeli war – said Bush's support of the plan is against the long-standing US policy that opposes building settlements. Lord also said it works against UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 which state that building settlements beyond the 1967 borders is illegal.
“What Bush said was damaging to the peace process,” said Salama. “It damages the principles of the peace process, and it does not coincide with international law. The West Bank has been considered an occupied territory since 1967, and changing the border makes the situation even more difficult to deal with.”
In a letter Bush recently sent to Jordan's King Abdullah II, he appeared to back away from assurances he gave Sharon last month but did offer a guarantee for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations Arab countries are pushing for. Arab leaders are pursuing guarantees from the United States on the creation of a Palestinian state that would include the West Bank in full and the return of Palestinian refugees who fled their homeland.
Questions are also being raised as to how the Palestinian Authority, still committed to the peace process, and Hamas, a militant group quickly becoming the most popular organization in the Gaza Strip, would be able to work together if the Palestinian State is established.
According to Salama, if the Palestinian State is created, organizations, such as Hamas, would join in the political system.
“There will be a multi-party system in Palestine, and we would try and integrate the organizations into the political system,” said Salama. “I am sure that the military capability of these organizations will be minimized if the Palestinian people see a horizon of a better future.”
Many Arabs were expecting to see a unified stance among Arab nations for the Palestinians at the Arab summit scheduled to meet soon after the assassination of Yassin last month. But the Tunisian government postponed the summit, claiming Arab countries had different positions on political reform in the Middle East. Last week, Arab nations agreed to hold the summit in Tunisia on May 22-23.
But according to Salama, the Palestinians do not expect significant results from the summit.
“The Arab League could put pressure on the US policy toward the Israelis and the Palestinians if the nations were unified. But, unfortunately, they are not unified,” said Salama. “I believe the Palestinian people need to rely on themselves.”
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