In one of his frank testimonies before the US Congress back in the 1990s, James Baker Jr., the secretary of state under President George Bush Senior, told the Congress that each time he landed in Tel Aviv airport, he was greeted by an Israeli government decision to build a new settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory.
This Israeli position angered Bush Senior’s administration and prompted it to eventually threaten the Israeli government headed by the extremist Yitzhak Shamir, to condition a $10 billion loan guarantee to Israel on its acceptance to attend the first international peace conference that was held in Madrid on Oct. 30, 1991.
The reader is reminded of the above, because no more than one week after the Annapolis peace conference, in which 40 states attended, including many Arab and Muslim countries, the Israeli government, in a very serious if not debilitating decision, decided Tuesday to build 307 housing units in the Jewish settlement of “Harhoma” constructed on Palestinian land belonging to the villages of SurBaher and Um Tuba in Arab East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel since June 1967.
In an attempt to justify the Israeli government position, and to add more oil to the fire, Mark Regev, described by the Haaretz newspaper as a “spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert” said: “Israel makes clear distinction between the West Bank and Jerusalem.”
Regev added: “Israel has never made a commitment to limit ‘our’ sovereignty in Jerusalem. Implementation of the first phase of the road map does not apply to Jerusalem.”
Well, Mr. Regev, the Palestinians consider Arab East Jerusalem part and parcel of the West Bank, as do all members of the international community, as well as the road map plan that is based on the Mitchell Report of 2001, testifying to the fact that the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza are one territorial unit. Furthermore, not one single country, including your strongest ally, the United States, — without which Israel cannot maintain or continue its occupation of Palestinian land — recognizes Israel’s annexation of Arab East Jerusalem, and that all of Israel’s actions in the city are illegal and rendered by UN resolutions null and void.
To be frank, not one single Palestinian trusts the word of the Israeli government or those pretending to negotiate on its behalf.
However, any reasonable observer with an interest in achieving a just and lasting peace in the Middle East should be puzzled with the outrageous statements uttered in the name of Israel’s prime minister at a time when the ink on the Annapolis document has not dried, and at a time when the Palestinian National Authority and its President Mahmoud Abbas are doing their utmost to galvanize the Palestinian public in the occupied Palestinian territory in favor of supporting his efforts to conclude a comprehensive peace settlement with Israel.
Israel’s flagrant violation in deciding to expand the Jewish settlement in “Harhoma” is yet another devastating blow to the moderate Palestinian camp. The timing is deliberate, as Israeli officials in charge appear to believe they can get away with it, particularly as the upcoming donor conference to rebuild the Palestinian economy will be held in Paris in the next two weeks, and therefore the Palestinians, Israelis believe, will either swallow the bitter pill and remain quiet or alternatively rock the boat, and risk damaging their interests at the Paris economic conference. The Palestinians will not rock the boat, and will go along with the peace arrangement agreed upon at Annapolis, but it is incumbent on the United States in particular and the Quartet and all those who attended the Annapolis conference to ensure this Israeli decision to expand the “Harhoma” settlement was nipped in the bud.
The Palestinians, although the most hurt by Israel’s occupation, hurt by its illegal and criminal behavior, are no longer the only ones who are paying the price. Israel’s careless, disturbed, confused, and confusing decisions are hurting the West, and increasingly so.
The West should not remain oblivious to Israel’s destructive behavior, and should not allow it to continue its provocations.
At the end of the day, if Israel does not comply with the wishes of the international community, then it should be treated as a pariah state on par with all rogue states that abuse human rights, and violate international law.
— Walid M. Awad works at the Central Media Commission.
Ramallah,Palestine.
