Democratic Palestine : 45 (ص 5)
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- Democratic Palestine : 45 (ص 5)
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would lose its main partner in the region.
In as much as the persistence of the
Arab — Israeli conflict poses a threat to
the interests of imperialism, Israel and
Arab reaction, any «peace» plan worked
out by these parties would obviously be
geared towards securing their interests.
This includes securing official Arab
recognition of Israel as a legitimate,
permanent and integral part of the
region, eliminating any resistance to it
and pushing the Arab countries to
normalize relations with it. The real
meaning of this is liquidation of the
Palestinian cause and imposing total
surrender on the Arab nation. The
rhetoric of Bush and Baker about a «just
peace» and Washington’s neutrality
notwithstanding, the US «peace»
proposals are no more and no less than a
plan of liquidation — a revised version of
Shamir’s plan. Both say «no» to an
international peace conference, «no» to
a Palestinian state and «no» to the PLO.
Both raise many questions about any
Palestinian representation in_ the
so — called regional conference. The US
has reportedly agreed with Israel that
only Palestinians from the occupied —
West Bank (excluding Jerusalem) and
Gaza Strip can be represented at the
conference.
With the objective of increasing
pressure on the PLO, Baker visited
Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, urging
their leaders to convince the PLO to
accept the Israeli conditions concerning
Palestinian representation at the
conference. By convincing the Maghreb
states to assent to the conference,
Washington hopes to isolate the
Palestinian people from their Arab
environment, as an introduction to
tightening the political blockade around
them.
Excluding East Jerusalem Pal-
estinians from the «peace» talks aims
to reinforce the Israeli contention that
Jerusalem as a whole is an integral: part
of the Zionist state, although the US has
never officially recognized the Israeli
annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967.
Not only Jerusalem is targeted by the
US-— Israeli plan; all the occupied
territories are. US intentions were
further revealed when Israeli newspapers
published excerpts from former US
President Gerald Ford’s 1975 letter to
Yitzhak Rabin, who was then prime
minister. The excerpt reads: «the US has
not developed a final position on the
borders. Should it do so, it will give great
weight to Israel’s position that any peace
agreement with Syria must be predicated
on Israel’s remaining on the Golan
Heights.» When asked about this, Baker
indicated that Ford’s promise would be
honored by the Bush administration
(Associated Press, July 23rd).
While the Bush administration
demands that the PLO and Arab states
be more flexible and give more
concessions, Israel continues to expand
and accelerate the construction of
Zionist settlements in the occupied
territories. The latest reports are that it
plans to set up nearly 4,000 prefabricated
units in the next few months. In spite of
this, all the US has done is to try to calm
the Arab states and to trick them by
gently rebuking Israel for the settlement
activity, appealing to it not to build new
settlements. It seems that Baker is
ignoring his own testimony before the
House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on
foreign operations on May 22nd, when
he explained that «nothing has made my
job of trying to find Arab and
Palestinian partners for Israel more
difficult than being greeted by a new
settlement every time I arrive,» adding
that he didn’t «think that there is any
bigger obstacle to peace than the
settlement activity that continues not
only unabated but at an enhanced pace»
(International Herald Tribune, May
23rd).
In addition, the Arab demand for an
international conference, as the suitable
framework for resolving the Middle East
crisis, was rejected by both the US and
Pear SS
ATH TTS ON -
NN TARE °
“qq SaNy saa Sie
~—
“We're getting close, Mr. Shamir . . . They’ve found two Palestinian shepherds who can’t spell
P.L.O. and a little old lady who only keeps a P.O. Box in East Jerusalem...”
/ e
74
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ee
Boye.
boy
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~~ aN me oN
Democratic Palestine, August 1991
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- Democratic Palestine : 45
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