JMCC, P.O. Box 25047 * East Jerusalem
Tel: 02-819777 * Fax: (02) 829534 * E-mail: jmcc@baraka.org
The call that US President Bill Clinton has already sent to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, King Hussein of Jordan, and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for holding a summit in Washington can be considered the first serious move made by the US in an attempt to save the peace process and put an end to the high tensions rising in the region. Such a move is a positive sign, but the most important is the topics that will be addressed and the results of such a summit that is supposed to address the real reasons that led to freezing the peace process and the violence that has erupted in the last week. No one can deny that Israel and its extreme policies were the major causes of the tension we are witnessing nowadays. Israel has been warned repeatedly in the last few weeks that the situation is like a time- bomb that might explode any moment, but Israeli PM Netanyahu ignored the facts on the ground. The success of Washington Summit in saving the peace process should through reaching specific results, especially Israel's commitment to honor all agreements signed with Palestinians, and to start immediately final-status negotiations away from setting preconditions concerning the issues to be addressed. The Palestinian side is not setting any new conditions; on the contrary, many Palestinian officials have stated on many occasions that Israel has to start implementing overdue agreements. (Al-Quds--30 Sept 1996)
It is very surprising and annoying to hear Israeli and US officials calling for halting all violence and resuming negotiations without even bothering themselves to look into the real causes for such tensions that were accumulations of the Israeli provocative measures against Palestinians. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu keeps talking nowadays about the so called "crimes" of the Palestinians who used gunfire against Israeli soldiers, without investigating who started shooting at unarmed civilians who were frustrated and angry at opening the tunnel which is considered a blatant aggression against Islamic holy sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. We have always said that the Israeli-Arab conflict is a dispute on lands, but Israel insists on transforming the conflict into a religious one. The Washington Summit is supposed to tackle these important issues, especially the tunnel issue which is part of a series of acts of aggression committed by Israel without considering any feelings. The Washington Summit should find a way out of this deadlock, otherwise the real reasons will rise again in the future causing more violence and tensions. (An-Nahar--30 Sept 1996)
It has become crystal clear to everybody that Palestinians are not alone in challenging the Israeli hardline policy towards the peace process. Other than the declared Arab position supporting the Palestinian position, there is the international community which showed through its speeches at the UN Security Council session the understanding of the Palestinian efforts to press Israel into the right direction on the peace track again. The Arab and international positions confirm that the peace process is frozen by the Israeli side which keeps taking provocative measures instead of implementing signed between Palestinians and Israelis. There are positive signs in the international and Arab efforts in the last few days which call for a specific practical trend in reviving and activating the peace process. There is no doubt that setting the issue of redeployment from Hebron on the agenda of the meeting between President Yasser Arafat and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, and US Secretary of State Warren Christopher's call for speeding up preparations to start final-status negotiations are clear signs that the international community is finally convinced that all obstacles threatening the peace process should be removed in order to reach a fair settlement. (Al-Quds--29 Sept 1996)
After 100 days in office, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu made an outstanding success in destroying the peace process. He succeeded in forcing Palestinians into a state of desperation and hopelessness which culminated in the explosion that we witnessed in the Palestinian territories in the last few days. Moreover, he was able to provoke the Arabs in the whole region, even Egypt which had signed a peace treaty with Israel. Arabs in the whole Middle East, who were pushing for ending the violence circle in the region, feel very frustrated because Netanyahu is trying to drag the region into a new state of tension that will threaten with more violence and bloodshed. Netanyahu has made a big mistake when he opened the tunnel, but he committed a more serious mistake when he insisted on keeping it open despite all the pressure exerted by the whole world. We hope that the blood that was shed in the past few days will be a strong motivation for Netanyahu to listen to the voice of reason, and avoid causing more violence and bloodshed that will spread all over the region. (Al-Nahar--29 Sept 1996)
There is no doubt that the current confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli occupation forces leading to the death and injury of many Palestinians was a natural result of the Israeli policies adopted by the right-wing government in the last 100 days since it took office. This Israeli policy was also the reflection of the hardline policy of certain extreme right-wing parties inside Israel, trying to destroy the peace process. Those same groups which called and exerted pressure on the Israeli government to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, and who opposed implementing redeployment from Hebron, and who spurred the so called "battle for Jerusalem" while Palestinians kept waiting to discuss Jerusalem status in the final-status negotiations. The Israeli"official" government must wake up from the dreaming state into reality and deal with the facts on the ground, which are exemplified in Palestinians' reactions and Arab and international demands to stop escalating the tension with the Palestinians and talk to them because they are the key partner in the whole Middle East peace process. (Al-Quds--27 Sept 1996)
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, in his visit to France two days ago, announced that Jerusalem is not and will never be a topic for negotiations, adding" Jerusalem will stay under the sovereignty of Israel". He even specified certain conditions that should be met in order to reach a settlement with Palestinians. Netanyahu in doing so has made it clear that negotiations with Palestinians are apt to fail before they even started. The Israeli mentality is not ready to deal with the present era of reconciliation and settling disputes through peaceful negotiations. The oppression that we were subjected to in the last 30 years created in us a bitter disbelief in any peace term used in the world. We repeat once again that the Middle East will never enjoy stability and prosperity if Israeli mentalities insist on keeping lands and achieving peace at the same time. (An-Nahar--27 Sept 1996)
Even unbiased impartial observers cannot ignore the interrelationship between Ramallah, Bireh, and Jerusalem incidents yesterday and the reasons that led to them which are in fact the making of the new Israeli government. Palestinians have engaged in the Middle East process, but they will never give up their legitimate rights according to international legitimacy. The tunnel that was opened by the Israeli authorities threatening the Islamic sites, especially the Dome of the Rock, was not an isolated act, but it clearly reflects the hardline policy of the right-wing coalition government. Israel should realize that the Palestinian people is a partner in the peace process, and should be treated as such, but the reality shows that Israel has actually frozen the peace process despite the verbal commitments uttered by Israeli official every time they show up on T.V. The clashes that took place yesterday in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Ramallah leading to Palestinian bloodshed is an early warning to what might happen in the future in the whole region if Israel insists on ignoring peace commitments signed with the Palestinians. Israel must understand that Palestinians will never surrender or give up their rights in Jerusalem, and that peace and stability in the region will never be achieved through extreme Israeli policies. (Al-Quds--26 Sept 1996)
The ramifications of opening the tunnel, that links the Way of the Cross with the wailing wall, can still be seen all over Palestine and the Arab world. The incidents that broke out yesterday in West Bank Cities were not spontaneous, but the result of accumulative feelings of despair and anger due to Israeli measures, especially after the Likud government took office. We have warned on many occasions that all the pressure exerted on the Palestinian people will eventually lead to such an explosion because no human being can accept such humiliation. The surprising thing is the Israeli officials' reactions boasting and feeling proud that they opened the tunnel, and they even expressed their surprise at the Palestinian reaction, ignoring the facts on the ground, which show that Israel has evaded implementing all signed agreements with the Palestinians. The situation is very dangerous, and matters are heading towards the unknown, with nobody possessing power to control the deteriorating conditions. Israel has committed many acts that were meant to humiliate Palestinians as a people including beating up PA ministers, and then after all this the Israeli officials show up and start talking about easing up the tension. The present Israeli policy will never work out, and Israeli PM Netanyahu should realize that the Palestinian people will never give in under any circumstances. (An-Nahar--26 Sept 1996)
Israel made use of the darkness late Monday evening to open up the stone barrier that was blocking the tunnel between the Dome of the Rock Wall and the Way of the Cross inside the Old City of Jerusalem. This Israeli act is a blatant violation of the sanctity of all ancient archeological sites spread in the Holy City. It is also considered a challenge to Palestinian rights in Jerusalem because the Israeli government went about this excavation work without consideration to Arab interests in Jerusalem, whether Christians or Moslems. It is clear that Israel aims at marginalizing the Christian and Islamic significance in Jerusalem, and tries to project to tourists the Jewish importance in the Holy City through ignoring all sites above the ground and going underground to show tourists what Israeli officials want them to see. Israel can't hide the Christian and Islamic religious sites, some of which were built 1,400 years ago. In the light of the new Israeli assault, men of religion should exert pressure on Israeli authorities to stop these digging works held under Palestinian buildings and religious sites; after all the city of Jerusalem is inhabited by Arab citizens and not a deserted archeological piece of land that can be used freely for Israeli excavation works. (Al-Quds--25 Sept 1996)
As usual, the Palestinian official response came in the form of condemnation to the Israeli aggressive acts in opening the tunnel that links the Omariyye School with the Wailing Wall, a tunnel that goes under Islamic holy sites in the Dome of the Rock. Whenever Israel violates one of our holy sites, we send condemnation massages one after the other while Palestinian people in Jerusalem protest through marches, demonstrations, and general strikes lasting for several days. Then Israel commits another aggressive act in another area diverting our attention to another incident so that we will stay on the defensive with no power to confront anymore. Everyday we lose a new site, and it has become clear that Israel uses this policy to force us to accept the Israeli reality. The real tragedy is the dispute between the PA and Jordan on who will rule Jerusalem, and this was clear when we were faced with two MUFTIs in Jerusalem, one assigned by the PA and the other by Jordan as if the issue is who has the authority in Jerusalem, ignoring the facts that Israel has the real authority now and that we are helpless. We believe that we will not have anything to negotiate about when the issue of Jerusalem is raised in the final- status negotiations that will take place when Israel decides on this matter, which means that we might have to wait for a long period of time. (An-Nahar--25 Sept 1996)