ABU DHABI, November 1, 2009 (WAFA)- Head of the PLO Negotiation Affairs Department Dr. Saeb Erakat today expressed deep concerns over the future of the Middle East peace process.
“We are at a critical moment. By rejecting a return to negotiations based on the principles of the Quartet Road Map, Israel has put America and the international community in a difficult position,” he said in après release. “The way forward, however, is not to drop the demand for Israel to comply with its obligations. Such a decision threatens to deal a fatal blow to the peace process because without a settlement freeze and the eventual dismantlement of settlements, there will be no Palestinian state to negotiate and no two-state solution left to speak of.”
“Israel’s refusal to comply with any of its Road Map obligations, despite its own undertakings and repeated US assurances, does not mean that we have changed our position when it comes to obligations and international law. Our position has not changed. An immediate and comprehensive settlement freeze has been a consistent requirement for us to engage negotiations, as well as the benchmark established by the international community for meaningful and credible negotiations to resume.”
“Palestinians cannot accept continued settlement construction or the colonization of Palestinian land in violation of international law, weather in occupied East Jerusalem or in any other part of the occupied Palestinian territory. Nor do we recognize a ‘moratorium’ as anything other than a failure of Israel to implement a comprehensive settlement freeze as it is required to do under the 2003 Road Map.”
Since 2003, the settler population in the West Bank has increased by 73,000 settlers or 17 percent.
“What the Israelis are offering is not unprecedented. We have seen these same kinds of ‘arrangements’ before. What would be unprecedented is a comprehensive settlement freeze by Israel in line with its obligations under international law and existing agreements, and a halt to Israeli policies in occupied East Jerusalem such as home demolitions, evictions and rapid settlement expansion, designed to rid the city of its Palestinian presence.”
Dr Erakat questioned the commitment of Israel to meaningful and credible negotiations and the establishment of a sovereign and independent Palestinian state.
“What the Middle East peace process desperately needs right now is credibility, not more ‘process’. If there is one lesson that the last sixteen years of negotiations has taught us, it is that negotiations for their own sake do not create a horizon of hope, but instead provide a cover behind which Israel will further entrench its occupation, and continue to create ‘facts on the ground’ that foreclose any prospect for a two-state solution,” Dr Erakat said.
“Under the current Israeli government, every substantive aspect of the peace process, and every substantive gain made in previous negotiations, has been whittled away. Israel has signaled its rejection of any serious discussions on permanent status issues like Jerusalem, recognition of the 1967 borders, refugees or settlements. If America cannot get Israel to implement a settlement freeze, what chance do Palestinians have of reaching agreement with Israel on permanent status issues?”
“Only negotiations that are based on internationally recognized terms of reference, and that hold both parties accountable to international law and their respective obligations under existing agreements as reinforced by the Quartet in its most recent statement issued on 24 September, have any chance of delivering a just and lasting peace. Pressuring Palestinians to make further concessions to accommodate Israeli intransigence is not the answer.” Dr Erakat concluded.
