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NEWS & LETTERS, March-April 2005Our Life and Times by Kevin A. Barry
Middle East talks
The chances for a permanent settlement of the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict are greater today than at any time since 2000.
Since the Palestinian Authority elections in January, Israel’s Likud-Labor
coalition government has finally begun to make some important symbolic
concessions. For example, Israel announced that it was suspending two of its
most provocative and humiliating tactics: 1) demolition of the homes of the
families of Palestinian terrorists, and 2) assassination of Palestinian
militants. This means that the truce declaration at the February
Palestinian-Israeli summit at Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, stands on firmer ground
than the short-lived ceasefire of 2003, when neither of these provocations was
ended. The Palestinian Authority has, as in 2003, obtained
ceasefire pledges from the two largest organizers of terrorist attacks inside
Israel, Hamas and Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade. The reorganized Palestinian
leadership has also hinted that it would accept a realistic compromise on the
demand of five million refugees to return to Israel proper. Will it make an
explicit declaration on this most crucial issue for Israel? Beyond its declared aim of evacuating the Gaza Strip and the symbolic moves mentioned above, it is unclear if the U.S.-backed Israeli state is prepared to make serious compromises over territory. Will it continue to construct a separation wall inside Palestinian territory? Is it ready to cede the whole of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the geographical requirement for a viable Palestinian state? The present ceasefire benefits the occupier more than the occupied, since it freezes the status quo, but the patience of the occupied is not infinite. |
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