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- Palestinian detainee in Israel now more than 50 days into hunger strike
Will the Palestinians go to Direct Talks?
The Israeli Palestinian peace process seems to freeze again after the latest Israeli and American invitation to go to direct talks in order to achieve an [singlepic id=282 w=300 h=210 float=right] improvement. The Israelis claim that the Palestinian authority is trying to use time as a factor of pressure on Israel; soon the settlements freeze period will end and Israel will be facing another challenge in renewing the settlements freeze.
The Palestinian leadership claims that the Israeli refusal to discuss any matter in the indirect talks, the continuous process of building settlements in East Jerusalem, the demolishing of Palestinian homes in the city and the lack of any real indicators that Israel is interested in the peace process does not encourage the Palestinians to agree on direct talks.
Eventhough the Political situation between the Palestinian authority and Israel is not in its best shape, the cooperation in security matters is in the top. Israeli citizens are allowed to visit several Palestinian cities in the West Bank such as Bethlehem, Diskin the head of the known Israeli general security agency “Shabak” have paid a visit to Jenin, and the security cooperation between the two sides is even better than the period after Oslo.
The Palestinian Economy in the West Bank and specially in Ramalla is developing while Prime Minister Fayyad continues to build what he calls a state of associations that will be ready by June 2011 to become a real Palestinian state. The unusual point in the current Israeli Palestinian situation is that both sides succeeded in agreeing on security matters under an American supervision but failed to achieve anything in the political field.
President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad know very well that the destiny and continuity of the Palestinian authority depends on continuing the security cooperation with Israel and preventing any attacks against Israel. Some may criticize them for such an action that they fill while Israel continues to refuse any compromise regarding a political solution for the conflict. Those who criticize them seem to forget that the basics of the Oslo agreement and the establishment of the Palestinian authority includes this security cooperation which was agreed on by our former Palestinian leadership that thought that such a price should be paid in order to assure the life of the Palestinian case and to bring the PLO into the occupied territories.
Palestinian officials stated recently that the Palestinian authority is facing financial difficulties and that the funding countries are not paying the PA the money it needs to pays its debts and salaries. Some started to explain these obstacles as tools of pressure that are used to oblige the PA to go to direct talks with Israel; a pattern which was used in the past to justify former decisions which were made by the PA to go to direct talks with Israel.
While the Palestinian leadership is lost politically and does not know whether direct talks would be a release for Prime Minister Netanyahu from the pressure he faced since his first day at the office or it will really bring a benefit for the Palestinian people with the support of the Arabs and the United States, the Palestinian people continues to be separated from the reality and is facing a kind of freeze that would soon turn into an explosion that wont be stopped easily.
The best thing that the Palestinian leadership succeeded in achieving until this moment is its success in minding its fall in the trap that Netanyahu prepared since his first day in office. Therefore, the PA must be ready face any pressure whether its financial or political to prevent any surrender to the Israeli will that won’t serve the Peace process and will only make the Palestinian case become a lost case for another ten years. Israel knows very well that nowadays and in the future, the history will judge it for occupying a people for tens of years and therefore it will respond to the International calls and the Palestinian durability whether it agreed or not by ending the last occupation in the history of humanity.
