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News :: Israel / Palestine |
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Draft Palestinian "National Plan" calls for end of attacks on civilians |
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by haaretz via gehrig
(No verified email address) |
08 Apr 2004
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An interesting development -- while reserving the right to violently oppose the occupation, three key groups seem to recognize the counterproductivity of attacks on Israeli civilians. |
Palestinian plan says no to attacks on civilians
By Arnon Regular and Aluf Benn
The Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad leaderships in Gaza have prepared a draft "National Plan" that "emphasizes the right to use violence to oppose the occupation and the settlements, while avoiding turning civilians from either side into targets for attack."
The document, which summarizes the outcome of meetings between Abdel Aziz Rantisi of Hamas, Ahmed Halas of Fatah, and representatives from the Islamic Jihad and other, smaller armed political factions, is regarded as a basis for negotiations between the PA and all the armed factions for a mutually agreed leadership to control Gaza after Israel withdraws.
The document sums up meetings that have been underway between the faction leaders in recent weeks, climaxing on Saturday at a meeting of the "Monitoring Committee of the National and Islamic Organizations."
At this stage, the document is a draft that binds nobody, but it is being called a National Plan. It is the first such document prepared by the Palestinians in response to the disengagement from Gaza, and broadly deals with the issues raised during the hudna talks last year between the PA, Hamas, Fatah and other armed groups.
The plan that emerges from the document is in effect a new hudna between the Palestinian groups, in which the PA plays the main role but the Hamas and other organizations are committed to the cease-fire. The document does not yet detail any division of labor or forces between Hamas and Fatah in the territories.
"The national and Islamic forces," says the document, "regard the withdrawal of the occupation forces and the settlers from any part of occupied Palestinian land as an achievement for our people's struggle and its intifada.
"The forces support acceptance of security and administrative responsibility by the PA in evacuated territories in the context of `an agreed national plan,' but they vehemently oppose, and warn against, any attempt to pay Israel for the withdrawal or to turn [the withdrawal] into an alternative to the fulfillment of Israel's international obligations, or granting false legitimacy to the separation fence, or to the annexation or expansion of Israel's presence in the West Bank, or avoiding full withdrawal from all the territories occupied in 1967."
According to the document, the Palestinians won't cease their armed struggle after the withdrawal. "Any unilateral withdrawal won't bring about stability so long as it is not part of an overall process of ending the occupation and evacuating the settlements," says the paper.
The document calls on the Arab states and international community not to negotiate with Israel over the disengagement plan and to avoid discussing its details "since it is completely contradictory to international legitimacy and its foundations."
The National Plan is described by the sides as "a unification of all the forces, to translate the achievements of the intifada into political facts and to deal with the unilateral steps of the Israeli government."
The document defines the joint strategic goals of the organizations as "ending the Israeli occupation of the territories captured on June 5, 1967 and evacuation of the settlements and settlers from those territories, the establishment of an independent state with full sovereignty and its capital in Jerusalem on the areas of the aggression of June 5, and full sovereignty in Arab Jerusalem's neighborhoods and over the Christian and Islamic holy sites."
In addition, the document refers to the right of return as "preservation of the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes according to UN resolution 194."
According to the document, the Hamas accepts the PA's supreme authority as representing the Palestinians. The document calls the PLO the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and "the national framework unifying the Palestinians in their homeland and outside it."
In addition the document details the organizations' joint tactical goals for the Palestinians in the coming period. These include halting construction of the separation fence and removing those sections already built; Israeli redeployment to pre-intifada lines; lifting of closures on the Palestinian cities and villages; dismantling the checkpoints; ending the siege on Yasser Arafat; freeing Popular Front leader Ahmed Sa'adat and Karin A treasurer Fuad Shubeiki from detention in Jericho; ending settlement activity and dismantling the illegal outposts; reopening the Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem; and seeking international protection for the Palestinians.
-- Blair calls Sharon
British Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday called Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister's Office said.
"British Prime Minister Blair called to voice his support for the disengagement plan and his appreciation for the step Israel is taking," a statement said. "Blair added that he intends to work toward enlisting support for the plan among the international community."
Blair said the withdrawal must lead the international community to commit to improving conditions in the Palestinian Authority. The world must also make clear to the PA the need to carry out reforms and fight terror, the PMO quoted Blair as saying.
Blair, Sharon, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak are visiting Washington separately next week. They will meet President George Bush at his Crawford Texas home. The following week, Jordan's King Abdullah will meet Bush and while Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath will meet National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell, for the first high-level American-PA meeting since before Mahmoud Abbas resigned as Palestinian prime minister last summer.
-- U.S. guarantees to PA?
Shaath said his visit "will be very important because we will be able to express our point of view on various issues that are being discussed now, and it will come after Sharon's visit to Washington."
He said he has received American assurances that Washington won't make any decisions before talking to the Palestinians and other regional leaders. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II are also scheduled to meet Bush this month.
"I don't think [the Americans] will make a decision on this plan before these meetings," Shaath said. "I think Sharon wishes there would be such an agreement, but in fact I doubt it."
In addition to political quid pro quos Israel is seeking from the U.S. for its withdrawal from Gaza and four isolated settlements in the northern West Bank, it also wants financial aid on two tracks.
It wants $5 billion in loan guarantees that would be used to develop the Negev, as well as a grant of hundreds of millions of dollars to help finance the war on terror.
It is possible the administration will show some flexibility about the use of the money in Israel even if it does not agree explicitly for the money to compensate settlers who are evacuated.
Government sources say the Americans have shown they are open to Israeli aid requests, but that Sharon wants to distinguish between the support in principle for his plan and financial discussions, so the issue will not come up during his trip next week.
(c) 2004, Haaretz
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