A few days ago, Jerusalem Post carried a very interesting bit of information that has gotten too little attention. According to the
article, the Palestinian Authority is hatching a plan to bring hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs to Israel on May 14 and 15, in honor of
Israel Independence day. This is not intended as a gesture of solidarity and support for the Jewish state. It is intended to support the Right of Return for Arab Palestinian refugees. The plan is being touted by Ziad Abu Ein, a senior Fatah operative and deputy minister for prisoner affairs in the Palestinian Authority. He has set up his own Web site to describe it: www.return08.com/Eng/index.html.
Though the plan has not gotten official Palestinian Authority sanction as yet, as far as I could ascertain, news of the plan is announced at the PLO Web site, which cites the Jerusalem Post article! (see palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=1&id=1588). Most interestingly, the Palestinian Authority has not disowned the initiative, even though it is an obvious bombshell.
Of course, advocacy of right of return is directly opposed to the announced aim of the Annapolis peace process, which is to create two states for two peoples. If the Palestinian Authority has decided to abandon the peace process, they should announce this new policy. Hamas-Fatah unity talks are also still under way. If they succeed, they would also effectively put an end to the peace process.
While we may have the highest hopes for the moderate government of the moderate President Mahmoud Abbas and the moderate and eversotransparent Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, it would be foolish to ignore the alarm flags raised by this notsomoderate initiative.
Ami Isseroff
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Replies: 1 Comment
I suppose that for the effects on public opinion, that Israel has to continue the "peace talks." I hope that no one is fooled, but if they are one need only remind them that Yassir Arafat refused to sign an accord giving the Palestinians 94% of all they demanded as a starting point for future discussions. Even Bill Clinton stood flabbergasted as Arafat scurried away protesting that his life would be forfeit if he signed. And his group Fatah has been described as moderate. From that moment on, I personally concluded that it would likely be decades, if not centuries before there would be peace.
Howard Wolf, Wednesday, March 26th
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