The PA Dissolution Discourse

Caelum Moffatt for MIFTAH, 24.3.08. Under the stipulations of the roadmap, which was supposedly reactivated at Annapolis, Israel is obliged to cease settlement expansion. However, in the last four months Israel has expropriated thousands of dunums of Palestinian land and granted permission for over 1,500 housing units in the settlements of Pisgat Zeev, Givat Zeev and Har Homa, some 7,000 in Ein Yayul near Walaja and a proposed 3,500 between east Jerusalem and the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement. Although Israel claims that these settlements [illegal under international law] lie in the district of Jerusalem and therefore should not be included in their roadmap commitments, east Jerusalem is where Palestinians want to establish their capital. Furthermore, Israel persists on approving construction plans on settlement blocs in the West Bank and this does not include the outposts erected at the whim of Israeli settlers.
Although the Palestinian presidency has now deemed this as speculation, there are those who have gone further, such as Dr. Ali Jarbawi, who advocate the PA being dismantled completely.

If the two-state solution is ostensibly suffering by preserving the PA, what are the alternatives? Would it not be perceived as admitting defeat? Faced with these questions, advocates of dissolution believe that for a defeat to be incurred there has to be a battle preceding it and as Israel presides over everything, the belief that such a conflict exists is a naive misconception. Under this paradigm, the PA would officially present the “keys” of the West Bank to Israel and the UN, absolving them of responsibility and accepting their occupied status.

Israel would be forced to address their responsibilities as an occupying power under the international legal guidelines set by the Geneva Conventions without having the luxury of exploiting the PA as a “administrative contractor or security sub-agent” [a phrase used by this organization in a 2004 paper on this topic].

At this juncture, the dissolution theory should be seriously contemplated as an alternative to a stagnant peace process.

Palestine-Israel, Fourth year of Friday demonstrations in the joint struggle in Bil'in against the separation fence and occupation

Ilan Against the Wall, 22.3.08. It seems the Israeli state is accepting its defeat in its efforts to put end to the Friday demonstrations in Bil'in. This week we had witnessed again the continuance of the gradual de-escalation of the suppression of the Friday activity in Bil'in. We arrived in Bil'in from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, telling on the way to new comers about the long confrontations in the first years when the state forces tried to block the Israelis way to Bil'in - pointing on critical points on the way where activists of the anarchists against the wall initiative out smart them and succeeded to penetrate to Bil'in. On the way, the state force guarding the road blocks do not bother to even look at us. On the demonstration itself, the state force threatened us as usual, but they were not making too much efforts to back that by action.

Le Fatah et le Hamas, rivaux palestiniens, s'engagent à renouer le dialogue

Michel Bôle-Richard, Le Monde, 24.3.08. A peine signée, dimanche 23 mars, la "déclaration de Sanaa" a donné lieu à des interprétations différentes entre le Fatah et le Hamas. Pourtant, pour la première fois depuis la prise du pouvoir par la force des islamistes dans la bande de Gaza le 15 juin 2007, les deux mouvements palestiniens rivaux ont officiellement accepté, par l'entremise du Yémen, de renouer le dialogue. Après plusieurs jours de discussions tumultueuses dans la capitale yéménite Sanaa, les deux organisations sont convenues que l'heure de la réconciliation était venue et qu'il fallait tenter de trouver un modus vivendi lors de contacts officiels à partir du début d'avril. Mahmoud Abbas est placé devant cette situation cornélienne : tenter de réunifier les territoires palestiniens ou poursuivre avec Israël un processus de paix qui, pour le moment, n'a rien donné.

Paraphé par Azzam Al-Ahmad, chef du groupe parlementaire du Fatah, et Moussa Abou Marzouk, numéro deux du Hamas, en présence du président yéménite, Ali Abdallah Saleh, le document spécifie que "les mouvements Fatah et Hamas sont convenus de considérer l'initiative yéménite comme un cadre pour la reprise du dialogue en vue de revenir à la situation antérieure aux événements de Gaza (le coup de force du Hamas en juin 2007), afin de confirmer l'unité palestinienne en tant que peuple, terre et autorité".

Le plan proposé par le Yémen tient en sept points et prévoit notamment la tenue d'élections anticipées dans les territoires palestiniens, la reprise du dialogue sur la base des accords antérieurs - particulièrement ceux de La Mecque du 8 février 2007 qui avait conduit à la formation d'un gouvernement d'union nationale - et enfin à l'unification des forces de sécurité sous le contrôle de l'Autorité palestinienne en vertu des accords du Caire en 2005.

Or, pour la présidence palestinienne, "la reprise du dialogue doit permettre de mettre en place la proposition yéménite afin qu'elle soit appliquée. Nous ne voulons pas de discussions sur différents articles car cela ne mènerait à rien", précise un communiqué. Tandis que pour le Hamas, il ne s'agit que d'un cadre de pourparlers afin de trouver un accord qui satisfasse les deux parties.

Hamas: No free calm with the Zionist entity

Ezzedeen Al Qassam Brigades, 23.3.08. Dr, Khalil Al Haiya, the leader in the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, revealed that his movement would not accept any mediation or initiative for calm with the Zionist occupation if it diminish the rights of the Palestinian people, stressing that the Palestinian people will not recognize the Zionist.

He added in a festival was organized by the feminist branch in the movement in Gaza City, that Hamas is more insistence on the Palestinian rights, especially in the fourth anniversary to martyrdom of Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

He said: "Hamas after the death of Sheikh became more resolve, and its public popularity increased, especially in light of the siege imposed by the Zionist entity on the Gaza Strip.

He continued that Hamas is on the path of the leaders Yassin and his friends, no matter how enormous sacrifices, and the use of inducements to change the approach of Hamas and the resistance against the Zionist entity.

In the end of the festival, Dr. Khalil stressed that no free calm will be with the Zionist entity in the next coming time.

With friends like these

Gideon Levy, Haaretz, 24.3.08. A true friend of Israel, one that is sincerely concerned for its fate, is only that friend who dares to express sharp criticism of its policy of occupation, which poses the most serious risk to its future, and who also takes practical steps to end it. Most of the "friendly" statesmen do not understand this. Who hasn't come to visit lately? From the German chancellor to the leading frontrunner for the American presidency. And the secretary-general of the United Nations is on his way. A visit to Israel has become de rigueur for foreign pols. If you haven't been here, you're nowhere. Angela Merkel, who received such a royal reception here last week, did not bring up any controversial issue in her speech at the Knesset. And so, her "historic" speech turned into a hollow one. By not speaking about the siege on Gaza, the starvation imposed on it and the killing of hundreds of its people, Europe's leaders are not meeting their political and moral obligations.

The visitors are taken, of course, to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, the Western Wall and now to Sderot as well - the new national pilgrimage site. A few also pay a perfunctory visit to Ramallah; no one goes to the Gaza Strip, and they all have nothing but praise for Israel. Not a word of criticism on the occupation, on Israel's violent operations in the territories, on the siege and the starving - with the exception of a few vague remarks on the need for a solution. Israel squeezes the Sderot "informational" lemon for all it's worth.

A state that imposes a siege that is almost unprecedented in the world today in terms of its cruelty, that adopts an official policy of assassination, is embraced by the family of nations, if we are to judge by the words of the many statesmen who cross our doorstep.

A true friend of Israel, one that is sincerely concerned for its fate, is only that friend who dares to express sharp criticism of its policy of occupation, which poses the most serious risk to its future, and who also takes practical steps to end it. Most of the "friendly" statesmen do not understand this.

Being right - all the way to the abyss

Doron Rosenblum, Haaretz, 22.3.08. Even if it seems "right" to settle an old bloody score - as part of the same pedagogical outlook that keeps boomeranging anyway - where does it lead us, in practical terms, in moral terms, vis-a-vis our image? While one spin knockout is followed by a terrorist attack and then the retaliation for the attack, Israel and Palestine are merging into a single, distasteful mass. And the distaste toward Israel is greater, perhaps precisely because there are some remaining shreds of expectation toward it.

The maxim "it is better to be smart than right" has never been more urgent and vital for Israel, especially when it wants to maintain the distinction between itself and its enemy and not become associated with its methods. Our most pressing need is not another battlefield "accomplishment" or PR "triumph," but a swift exit from the cycle of bloodshed in a cease-fire or some reasonable arrangement that will at least suspend the slide toward chaos.

Rabbinic fatwas

Haaretz Editorial, 21.3.08. It would be appropriate for the rabbis to take advantage of their standing to restore calm and step up security at the yeshivas, and not leave them unguarded. And mostly, to confront the roots of the conflict and the need to develop a dialogue between the peoples and religions in an effort to spur compromises and not eternal wars in which each side is convinced that the goal dictated by its faith is total submission.