Palestinian Paper Stresses Importance of Current “Peace Opportunity”

Text of report by privately-owned, pro-Fatah Palestinian daily newspaper Al-Quds on 16 October

[Editorial: "An Appropriate Peace Opportunity Not to Be Missed"]

Statements in the wake of the negotiations held by the US secretary of State, particularly by the Palestinian side and the Egyptian officials were somewhat optimistic. They focused this time on a firm US stand to activate the peace process to establish a Palestinian state and end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. If one scrutinizes statements made by Rice herself, one will see that she repeatedly spoke about the Palestinian state and that the time has come for the establishment of this state that will coexist with Israel after all the requisites of an independent state are secured.

Therefore, the Arab and US sides have good intentions. However, Israel with all its political parties holds the key to a settlement. We say all sides and not only the Israeli Government alone because there are extremist and religious parties that do not want a just peace. There are also the many problems Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert experiences with his coalition government where two thirds of its members are rightwing elements or hardliners, as well as the many problems Olmert recently had to face and which cannot be easily removed.

The course of the forceful resumption of the peace process is clearly outlined. It is based on the withdrawal of Israel from the territories that were occupied in 1967, particularly from Arab Jerusalem, the termination of the settlement manifestation in accordance with a mutual agreement and the search for a fair and honourable solution to the issue of the refugees and the displaced people in accordance with UN resolutions, particularly Resolution 194. In spite of all this, the Israeli Government wavers and hesitates in documenting these demands and listing them in a joint statement that will be tantamount to a general framework for the agenda of the forthcoming conference and the document that the conference will adopt as a basis for the final settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

If the United States and Israel actually wish the Annapolis conference to come out with tangible results and not to turn into a political and media event and an introduction to some form of gratuitous normalization on the Arab and international level, we need to encourage Israel to deal seriously with the negotiations that are being held between President Mahmud Abbas and Olmert on one side and between the Palestinian and Israeli negotiating teams on the other to discuss the thorny and difficult issues and draft the solutions for these issues that are acceptable to the Palestinians and Arabs and list these solutions and concepts in the joint statement that the Palestinians want to be comprehensive and effective that will also be accompanied by a specific timetable that sets out implementation dates.

What one needs to affirm is that there is a real opportunity to activate the peace process at the present time and such an opportunity might not become available in the foreseeable future. The Israeli side must take this into consideration so that this historic opportunity is not wasted as a result of which the people in the region will pay a prohibitive price.

Originally published by Al-Quds, Jerusalem, in Arabic 16 Oct 07.

(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Middle East. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.