Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November/December 2014, pp. 52
Diplomatic Doings
Salam Fayyad: Palestinian Disunity and Israeli Impunity Must End
Speaking at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC on Sept. 15, former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad argued that two adjustments must be made before Israel-Palestine peace talks resume.
First, Fayyad said, the Palestinian house must achieve some level of reconciliation. The PA, he noted, has been discredited by the failure of the peace process, while Palestinians have met Hamas’ more aggressive form of resistance with broad sympathy, if not approval.
While complete unity should be the ultimate goal, Fayyad said more realistic steps toward reconciliation ought to be pursued in the near-term. For instance, even though Hamas is unlikely to accept certain commitments the PLO has made to Israel, such as renouncing violence, Fayyad believes the PLO should nonetheless provide Hamas a forum through which it can contribute its opinions.
Second, Fayyad stressed that Israel must set a firm date for the end of its occupation of Palestinian territories. The Oslo Accords, now decades old, have become, oxymoronically, “an open-ended interim arrangement,” he lamented. This status quo, he added, allows Israel to continue its occupation and provides Palestinians with little leverage.
Given the questionable Israeli commitment to end the occupation, Fayyad question whether or not the PA should continue its security cooperation with Israel in the West Bank. This arrangement, he said, “makes sense only in the context of a process that promises the occupied freedom with dignity and a country of their own.” Otherwise, he noted, Palestinians are helping facilitate their own oppression.
Responding to Fayyad’s remarks, Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, U.N. Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs, said the U.N. “would like to see the government of national consensus work….You cannot address effectively the challenges in the Gaza Strip…if you don’t have a legitimate and accountable Palestinian government in place.”
Feltman noted that the PLO has informed the U.N. it wants either the Security Council or the General Assembly to set an end date for the Israel occupation. Once this date is in place, he said, the Palestinians are willing to work out details with the Israelis. If a date cannot be agreed upon, Feltman believes the Palestinians will sign more international conventions.
—Dale Sprusansky
