Prerequisites
For Peace
By Mustafa Barghouthi
15 December,
2007
Baltimore
Sun
RAMALLAH,
West Bank: As one who for decades has supported a two-state
solution and the nonviolent struggle for Palestinian rights, I view
the recent conference in Annapolis with a great deal of skepticism -
and a glimmer of hope.
Seven years
with no negotiations - and increasing numbers of Israeli settlers, an
economic blockade in Gaza and an intricate network of roadblocks and
checkpoints stifling movement in the West Bank - have led us to despair
and distrust. Any commitment must be made not only to conclude an agreement
before the end of 2008 but also to end Israel's occupation.
The Palestinians
must also heal their internal divisions. This must include institutional
reform to root out corruption and nepotism. The first step in that process
is democratic elections at all levels of government.
We must rid
ourselves of the false dichotomy between Fatah and Hamas. These are
not the only options. My movement, the 5-year-old Palestinian National
Initiative, offers an alternative emphasizing democratic elections,
transparent government and institution-building. Our goal is to democratize
and engage the Palestinian national movement in a unified strategy to
confront Israel's ongoing occupation and seizure of our land and resources.
We strive to achieve our national rights in our homeland and to establish
social justice to uphold the rights of the underprivileged and marginalized,
including women, children and people with disabilities.
The Palestinian
National Initiative emerged in response to calls by the Palestinian
populace for opportunities to participate in creating an independent,
viable, democratic and prosperous state that guarantees security, justice,
equality before the law and a dignified existence for its citizens.
Our movement's
firm commitment to democracy and nonviolence can be seen, for example,
in our peaceful demonstrations against Israel's apartheid wall. For
more than two years, we supported the popular - and, so far, successful
- struggle of the West Bank village of Bilin to remove the wall from
its land. We are replicating these nonviolent activities, with the support
of international solidarity groups, in towns and villages throughout
the West Bank.
But the full
democracy, real reform and unity our people deserve cannot flourish
under conditions of occupation. The national unity government collapsed
this year when the government was unable to pay its workers after Israel
withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes owed to the Palestinian
Authority.
Far too many
innocent Palestinian and Israeli civilians have suffered and died because
of the persistence of Israeli military occupation of our lands. Our
daily experience worsens as we are continually squeezed into ever-smaller
land reserves and Israel continues to encircle Jerusalem with illegal
settlements that segregate it from the West Bank. The number of Israeli
settlers in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, has grown
from 268,000 to more than 420,000 since the Oslo peace accords were
signed. Even today, Israel is refusing its commitment, under the U.S.-sponsored
"road map" to peace, to freeze all settlement activity.
We acknowledge
the painful history of our Israeli neighbors. The suffering endured
by Jews in Christian Europe was terrible. But today, Israel has the
most powerful military in the Middle East, and Palestinians are the
ones who suffer most.
Palestinians
participated in Annapolis in good faith. But we cannot simply abandon
the rights of our people, including refugees. We seek for them no more
than they are due under international law, and a way must be found to
address these inalienable rights.
We have made
our most generous offer in agreeing to establish our sovereign state
in the West Bank and Gaza, together only 23 percent of historical Palestine.
This is roughly half of what the United Nations allocated for us some
60 years ago. We have already more than made our historical compromise
with Israel. Compromising the compromise risks leaving us with a shell
state.
And a meaningless
and empty state is no basis upon which to build substantive peace. A
state in name only will not be enough. A state requires sovereignty.
A state requires free movement and a free economy. A state requires
a democratically elected government that can govern independently, without
interference from Israel.
Annapolis
represented an opportunity - perhaps the last before the possibility
of a two-state solution vanishes. The Palestinian people will agree
to two states as long as Israel withdraws its settlements and removes
the wall, ends its brutal military occupation of the Palestinian territories
it captured in 1967, acknowledges the rights of refugees and agrees
to share Jerusalem as the capital of both states.
However,
if the two-state solution becomes impossible, future Palestinian leaders
may be compelled to demand equal rights within one state. It behooves
Israel to hasten toward a two-state solution.
The basic
question Palestinians have for Israelis is: Will we be treated as equal
human beings, with equal rights and equal dignity? If the answer is
yes, there will be a two-state solution. There will be peace.
Dr.
Mustafa Barghouthi, a physician, member of the Palestinian
parliament and former candidate for president of the Palestinian Authority,
has founded organizations that provide health services for Palestinians.
His e-mail is [email protected].
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