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Abbas besieged
by Khalid
Amayreh
The fourth meeting between
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart
Mahmoud Abbas ended in failure on Sunday after Sharon refused to release
Palestinian prisoners and withdraw his army from Palestinian population
centres.
Prior to the meeting which was
held at Sharon's residence in West Jerusalem, Abbas voiced deep
frustration at Israel's "lack of good will" and "procrastination".
"We prepared the lists of our
prisoners. We will know what is the Israeli response to that," Abbas said.
"They should give us the lists today. Any delay means procrastination and
unwillingness to implement the roadmap."
Abbas's frustration was
justified. During the meeting, Sharon not only refused to commit himself
to release Palestinian prisoners, but he also refused to consider all
other Palestinian demands. As a result, everything was deferred until
further notice, and Sharon wouldn't say why. He merely repeated that Abbas
crack down on "terror" and dismantle the infrastructure of Palestinian
resistance groups.
The Palestinian prime minister
had hoped that Sharon would be forthcoming on such key issues as the
redeployment of Israeli troops from Palestinian self-rule areas, ending
the 18-month siege of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat and lifting the
restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement within the West Bank. In
addition, the Palestinians want Israel to halt the construction of the
"separation wall" which they rightly complain is reducing many of their
towns and villages to virtual detention camps and inaccessible ghettos.
Reportedly, Sharon's
intransigence very nearly prompted Abbas to walk out of the meeting. One
Palestinian official remarked that Sharon "is only making a show to give
the impression that the two sides are talking and things are alright".
PA official Sa'eb Ereikat
remarked that Sharon was trying to please the Americans more than make
peace with the Palestinians.
"They [the Israelis] admitted
that there had been a drastic drop in violence and attacks of all kinds.
But when we asked them to release the prisoners and leave our cities, they
offered nothing and everything was deferred."
Abbas's failure to deliver
achievements for his thoroughly tormented and indignant people is likely
to create more problems for him in the coming weeks. The Palestinian
premier had promised Hamas and other resistance groups that he would
produce "results" in case they agreed to a "truce". Although the truce has
now been in effect and holding for nearly four weeks, very little tangible
results are felt by the Abbas government and the Palestinian public.
Indeed, most Palestinians are
still generally barred from travelling outside their immediate population
centres, which continue to be encircled by Israeli tanks and armoured
personnel carriers.
Even Bethlehem, which the
Israeli army "left" three weeks ago, now looks more a city under siege
than a free town. The same holds true in the Gaza Strip where daily misery
surpasses belief.
Abbas visited Cairo on 21 July
and from there, from which he flew on to Amman. The aim of the visits was
to brief President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah II of Jordan on his
latest talks with Sharon. He reportedly alerted the two Arab leaders to
the "grave consequences" of Sharon's stone-walling and equivocation.
Having succeeded in convincing
Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups to uphold the truce -- and
with his State Minister for Internal Security Mohamed Dahlan, succeeding
in restoring a semblance of law and order in Bethlehem and Gaza -- Abbas
now feels he has done his part of the deal with Israel, at least for the
time being.
Now he rightly feels it is
Sharon's turn to carry out his part. This is the message Abbas carried
with him to Mubarak and King Abdullah II and will carry to President Bush
when he arrives in Washington on 23 July.
It is not clear why Sharon has
refused to carry out any further redeployment of Israeli troops from major
Palestinian towns or even relax the crippling restrictions on Palestinian
civilians. At this stage, both seem to be a prerequisite to the success,
even survival, of the Abbas government.
Some observers here contend
that Sharon is trying to test Bush's resolve and personal commitment to
the implementation of the roadmap before deciding to make his next move.
Some pundits believe that
Sharon, who has never been enthusiastic about the roadmap, is trying to
cause the collapse of the present truce with the Palestinians, and hence,
the entire roadmap, but without bearing any responsibility or incurring
any price for it. And he is pursuing this goal by doing what he does best,
namely provoking the Palestinians.
There seems to be considerable
evidence to support such a conclusion. Sharon continues to build Jewish
settlements and bypass roads throughout the West Bank, notwithstanding the
highly-publicised dismantling of a few settlement outposts. He goes on
building what a growing number of Palestinians now describe as the
"Satanic Wall" which is effectively ghettoising Palestinian towns and
destroying the livelihood and future of tens of thousands of Palestinian
families.
Moreover, Sharon is keeping
intact the "closure" or "siege" of Palestinian towns, villages and refugee
camps. In the process, he has suffocated what little is left of the
Palestinian economy and reduced Palestinian population centres to large
detention camps.
This utter misery is no where
harsher than in the Gaza Strip where many ordinary Gazans have had to
resort to begging.
Earlier this week, Jean
Ziegler, UN special expert on the right to food, spoke of a "catastrophic
humanitarian situation" in Gaza due to Israel's repressive measures.
"There is a permanent, grave
violation of the right to food by the occupying forces. There is a
catastrophic humanitarian situation. Palestinian population centres are
encircled by troops, preventing food being delivered and farmers threshing
their fields," he said.
Ziegler also cited the
destruction and confiscation of fertile Palestinian land for military
zones and Jewish settlements. "We saw thousands of olive trees destroyed
by bulldozers," he remarked.
Sharon's reluctance to
implement the roadmap, or at least relax the Israeli military grip on
Palestinian civilians, suggests that Sharon will not "act" unless he is
forced to do so by international, mainly American, pressure.
So the vital question now is
whether President George W Bush, whose administration is facing mounting
difficulties in Iraq and bracing for an election whose outcome is far from
guaranteed, would be in a position to pressure Sharon into faithfully
implementing the roadmap.
Indeed, Bush and his advisors
might well calculate that exerting real pressure on Israel, which might
alienate Jewish voters and, especially, Israel's powerful Christian
evangelical allies, would be counterproductive in the runoff to the coming
presidential elections.
This is the question that
might well decide the future of the present truce between Israel and the
Palestinians, the roadmap and even, to a large extent, the very survival
of the Abbas government.
Source:
by courtesy & © 2003 Al-Ahram Weekly & Khalid Amayreh
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