Ayoon wa Azan (It Takes Two To Tango)

Jihad Al Khazen     Al-Hayat     2003/08/8

Just like tango, peace takes two to work, and Mahmoud Abbas alone cannot achieve peace as long as Ariel Sharon keeps deliberately trying to foil the peace process, with premeditation might I add, in each and every step he has been taking ever since the Roadmap was announced and Abbas became Prime Minister.

Sharon could be regretting his success in ousting Arafat, as even while the President is besieged in the Muqataa, the Israeli Premier is facing a Palestinian Prime Minister who is on excellent terms with President Bush. As a result, the relation is much better than the one he himself has with Bush, knowing that the Israeli government is the party being pressured to carry out its commitments, and not Palestine.

I called Abbas yesterday, as he was getting ready to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Gulf. He told that his trip to the U.S. and his meetings there were of paramount importance, although nothing palpable was achieved; in fact, the U.S. understands the Palestinian stance and has promised to keep pressuring Israel to stop building the security wall and remove the random settlements.

However, releasing the Palestinian prisoners and detainees remains on the top of the current list of demands, and the Israelis have already freed 338 detainees, half of whom are administrative detainees who were arrested on no particular charge and hence were not prosecuted. In fact, the Israeli law allows their detention for six renewable months, and Israel claims it has 763 administrative prisoners, whereas the Palestinians say they are close to 1,800.

Abbas also said that the Israelis have released those who almost finished serving their sentence. Some of them still have one month to go, and others two. He added that his government will insist on releasing all the prisoners gradually and that there was a Palestinian unanimity on refusing any exception, so that all the freed persons would belong to the different Palestinian factions. However, Abbas is facing the famous Sharonist filthiness. Actually, ever since the Palestinians declared truce on June 29, Israel arrested 230 additional Palestinians.

I told the Palestinian Premier that the Israeli newspapers wrote yesterday that Ariel Sharon had cancelled the meeting he was supposed to hold with him on Wednesday, as an objection to the absence of "a Palestinian initiative against terrorism." But Abbas said that he was the one to cancel the meeting, and had informed the Americans about this, because Palestinians tried to gather officials from both parties as to set an agenda for the meeting, but the Israelis refused and claimed there was no need for that, so Abbas thought the meeting was going to be useless and apologized for not being able to attend the meeting. The two men haven't met since July 20, 2003.

Moreover, the Israeli government is releasing prisoners and arresting others, as American and Israeli sources assert that no illegal settlements (meaning none of them) have been dismantled despite the promotion, as for every water container or prefabricated house having been removed from the hill of the West Bank, settlers have built other ones, while the Israeli government, which is supposed to end the illegitimate settlement, is fixing the roads leading to them as to facilitate the transport. As for withdrawing from the cities, Jericho was the last Israeli offer, as a means to bargain.

Then, there is the conspiracy on the truce itself, as Sharon's government had probably expected the Palestinian factions to cancel the truce because of Israel's refusal to carry out what it is asked to do, especially regarding the detainees and the prisoners, which does not figure in the Roadmap.

But the truce managed to last to this day, and Israel started accusing Hamas of taking advantage of this period to rebuild its forces in the West Bank and Gaza. It could be so, but Israel is presenting evidence that is as inaccurate as what we heard about Iraq, knowing that Israeli leaders have claimed during a meeting of the Committee of Foreign Affairs and Defense held at the Knesset this week, that Hamas was deploying all its efforts to build a terrorist structure and prepare in Gaza all kinds of weapons and tools it is smuggling from Egypt. They also claim that it has started producing Al-Qassam missiles in the West Bank, not to mention that it tried getting hold of 20 km range missiles in the past weeks. The head of the committee said that they would become dangerous to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and the coastal cities within months.

Any country, or army, or organization or faction is supposed to reorganize its forces during the truce, but how did Israelis know all these details, and if they did, why didn't they confiscate the weapons, or stop the smuggling, or prevent Hamas from getting missiles that threaten Israeli cities. Israel has also accused Iran of being behind the Palestinian "terrorism" after having shot an Israeli woman in South Jerusalem. It is obvious this is all about making false allegations to justify any future hindering of the peace process.

Abbas told me that the truce was ongoing, and that the meetings being held in the West Bank and Gaza with the Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Jihad, were "excellent." He added: "We discussed the future and our problems, as we would like to speak as one party." Abbas had also met with the staff of the Palestinian security and said that they aimed at preventing Israel from making up excuses.

I spoke with Abbas last night and he was supposed to arrive to Saudi Arabia in the evening. He said that the he was going to inform the Arab leaders regarding the details of his meetings in Washington, and ask them for more support. He added that Saudi Arabia had kept all its promises to Palestinians and pledged to offer more support, and so have other Arab countries.

Abbas is trying, and if he eventually succeeds, it would be despite Sharon and his government, not in cooperation with a party that is trying to hinder the peace process each step of the way.