By Iyad Khalifah
Albawaba.com – Amman
A senior Palestinian official and lawmaker has revealed that the Palestinians have refused some Israeli offers made by the Israeli Prime Minister Aiel Sharon government to resume the peace process because they did not meet the minimum Palestinian demands.
Hatem Abdu Qader, who represents Jerusalem in the Palestinian Legislative Council, and member of Fateh movement in the West Bank, said in an interview with Albawaba.com that there is an Israeli plan in Jerusalem that aims at surrounding the al Aqsa mosque with settlements in order to create new realities on the ground. He indicated that the Likud has had the plan ready “in its drawers” for years. It appears that Sharon and Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert have found the opportunity now to take the plan out and implement it.
Following are excerpts from the interview:
Q. It appears that there are abnormal moves by the Israeli Jerusalem municipality as Olmert has given instructions to encourage [Jewish] settlement in Jerusalem.
A: Certainly, we consider these extremely serious moves. The Israeli mayor has actually given his instructions to build 2800 residential units on Abu Ghnaim Mountain to expand the first settlement established there. We as Palestinians feel that this is serious from many aspects, among the most important of which is what Sharon specifically announced during his election campaign, namely, the expansion of settlements to cope with the increasing number of Israelis. What is more serious than this is the first spark of an old plan on the Likud Party agenda aimed at surrounding Jerusalem and strangling it with settlements.
Q. What are the guidelines of this expansionist plan?
A. The plan is called the “Eastern Ring” and consists of building a residential quarter in the Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dees in order to link it in future with the aforementioned 2800- residential units. The objective of this plan is to surround Jerusalem with settlement blocs making the holy city an easy target within the “jaws of settlement” and isolate it from its Arab suburbs, which are considered a demographic and geographic extension of the city.
Q. What are, in your opinion, the objectives of the extremist Israeli premier and Jerusalem mayor by proceeding with the implementation of the plan?
A. The Likud Party in general, and Sharon and Olmert in particular, attempt to impose a de facto [situation] on the ground before any future peace settlement so that the Arab sovereignty over Jerusalem will be impossible.
Q. Do you have any specific vision or counter plan to stand against this project?
A: I admit that there is a lack of a plan or strategy to counter the Zionist actions due to the absence of Arab and Islamic support for the Palestinians. To counter the Zionist measures is not the responsibility of Palestinians alone, but rather the responsibility of the Arab and Islamic worlds too. I repeat that Zionization is an Israeli objective that goes beyond the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic frontiers.
From this point, we expect the forthcoming Arab Summit Conference in Amman to take decisions that should be implemented on the ground rather than be mere recommendations. I see this as the last opportunity for the Arabs to unify their efforts and take the necessary measures to counter the Israeli policy. This is the responsibility of everybody at a time when Jerusalem is exposed to a real danger. For our part as Palestinians, we will not surrender to Zionization, which we will resist whatever the price is. We have the will for resistance.
Q. How do you assess the security situation now?
A: Jerusalem is the spearhead in the Israeli blockade of the West Bank. Now there is a complete isolation of the city particularly when the Israelis established fixed and mobile military checkpoints at the city’s entrances in addition to the closure of the side roads and exits that lead to the rest of the West Bank cities. This situation has adversely affected the economic conditions of the Palestinian citizens in Jerusalem who are suffering a recession and the lack of services normally provided by the West Bank citizens. Furthermore, the City has a university, schools and hospitals that depend in their revenue generation on the people coming to it from other parts of the West Bank.
Q. Is there any hope for the resumption of the peace process and negotiations particularly after Sharon’s visit to the United States?
A. The prospects of negotiations are still completely closed and Sharon has not suggested any new ideas. The contacts, which have been made with the Israelis through some European countries, revealed that Sharon had made proposals that are impossible for us to accept. The most important of these were the interim solutions in a period of 10 years and his offer of withdrawal from small settlements in the Gaza Strip.
Q. What was the Palestinian response to these proposals?
A. Our answer was refusal to go back to square one and re-enter into a misleading interim solutions dilemma. Our standpoint is clearly specified: We will not go back to negotiations unless the comprehensive Israeli military blockade of the cities of West Bank and Gaza Strip is lifted; Israel should fulfill all its commitments, understandings and agreements it has already signed; and negotiations should be based on the UN resolutions 242 and 338. Without all of these, it would be impossible to negotiate with Sharon.
Q. What was the Israeli government reaction?
A. The Israeli blockade was intensified and shelling of our cities and villages and military pressure on them increased with the aim of forcing us to accept Israel’s conditions. But we have no other alternative except resistance.
