Middle East Post

Recently the Untied States of America, the European Union, the Arab countries, and the International community considered Israel’s decision to permit 1600 new settlement units in Jerusalem a wrong step that will cause damage for the trust needed in order to re-launch the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Although Vice President John Biden considered the relation between Israel and Read more…

Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad Palestinian, Israeli Conflict abu, Abu Mazen, biden, diplomacy, east, israel, jerusalem, John, khalil, middle, negotiations, post, settlement, zayyad, ziad

Days are counting and the November peace conference is becoming closer. In these days the Palestinians and the Israelis are still negotiating in order to agree on something before going to Annapolis, so they can declare the achievement they want to reach. The real danger is what the extremists are doing from the both sides in order to make the people feel there is no chance for this conference and that its only an other meeting like all the ordinary meetings that cant bring any benefit Read more…

Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad Palestinian, Israeli Conflict Abu Mazen, Israe, olmert, palestine, peace, ziad abu zayyad

The last meeting between Abu Mazen and Olmert surprised so many people from the Palestinian authorities because of the level of discussion in this meeting. Saeb Erekat, the head of the Palestinian negotiating team said that the meeting discussed some serious matters but did not include any discussions about the main and central subjects including the Palestinian state and its boarders or Jerusalem or the refugees, it means it didn’t include anything about the preparations for the November conference for peace in the Middle East. What it really included was Olmert thanking Abu Mazen because of the Jenin incident and how the Palestinian forces rescued an Israeli Soldier that entered Jenin by mistake and could have been killed or kidnapped if the Palestinian forces didn’t protect him. Tseepy Levni the Israeli minister said that this incident showed that the Palestinians are really becoming stronger against terror and this encourages the Israelis to go towards peace with the Palestinians. Well again the Israelis liked the idea of having strong Palestinians returning their soldier, but forgot to think about a better way of how to improve the situation so the Israelis could have the ability to go the Palestinian territories to make trade free without any dangers as they once did when peace was between the two peoples. Aljazeera News channel said that it was able to get a secret paper that the Israelis offered for Abu Mazen including the preparations for The November meeting. In this paper, Israel offers the Palestinians an independent state with the boarders of 1967 with no weapons, Refugees are not mentioned at all, and Jerusalem should be under the Israeli charge but also admitted as a capital for the three religions. No comments were mentioned about the paper because neither of the Israelis or the Palestinians admit that it exists. But the Palestinians did say that in the last meeting, there was nothing discussed about such a thing called a temporary Palestinian State, and that Abu Mazen could never accept such a state, They also said that Abu Mazen was clear concerning the Final Solution by which only an independent state in the 1967 boarders with Jerusalem the capital and an end for the suffering of the Palestinian refugees as it is mentioned in the United Nations decisions, could make peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. This means that the Israeli paper is dying before it is even discussed with the Palestinians because actually what Abu Mazen is demanding is the minimum that any Palestinian could accept.

On the other side Hamas offered for Fateh to give it back the control in Gaza and end the situation of Only Hamas control in it, on one condition that a unity government is to be established including Hamas again. There is no answer for this offer until now from Abu Mazen and Fateh, the reason simply is that they don’t trust Hamas and does not want to risk their chances with the Americans for a real peace agreement in the coming months. To my opinion both the Israelis and Abu Mazen are making a serious mistake; One can notice that since Fateh leaved Gaza, Israel got the green light to strike and enter Gaza as much as they want and they are not only striking military activities but sometimes they are injuring civilians as what happened today, again as I said before this affects the people that are living their to hate more any existence for Abu Mazen people in Gaza and also empowers Hamas and its beliefs. Instead of using this method of striking Gaza, another tools could be used such as the people pressure on Hamas, a few days ago a huge demonstration went out to the streets including fifteen thousand people demonstrating against Hamas and this really could affect on Hamas to return back from what it is doing their. Another tool is the Arabic pressure on them; Even the Iraqi president went to Syria in order to seek their help in stopping violence in Iraq, so why don’t they use them too in a smart way. The Israeli army is returning again to its policy of striking Gaza even though that civilians are also their and could be injured, in which they believe that using power could also make the people afraid and make them force Hamas to stop its activities, although that this policy was proved to be failing in the past and instead of weakening Hamas, it empowered it and brought it to take control all over Gaza at these days.

Yesterday Bush described Iran as a disaster for the Middle East if it will have any nuclear power and also said that it is important that the world should keep on punishing Iran economically and in any way it can be in order to make Iran stop its Nuclear activities. Bush mentioned an important thing about the ARAB allies that are working with the United States in order to stop Iran. This as I also once mentioned shows the high level of cooperation between the Arab States and the American United States facing the Iranian threatens which are also dangerous for Israel that is also cooperating with the United States and maybe its Arab allies secretly in order to stop this power that is becoming dangerous for them in every new day.

Ahmadi Najad, the Iranian president said in his last speech that he is sure that the Americans don’t want to face him military because of the difficulties that they are facing in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also offered to help in the Iraqi situation and cooperate with any Arab state such as the Saudi Arabia in order to calm down things in Iraq on one condition that the Americans leave it. And as usually he described Israel as a bunch of criminals ruling the world with their money and economy, and that it should be destroyed if the world wants peace. Actually whenever I hear his comments, I do believe that he is strong leader with all his speeches that moves the emotions of those who are suffering because of his enemies, but on the other side I do believe that he will fail in the future because he is using the closed ideology, which means that he has so many enemies because of his diplomacy that believes only in force and also the ability to survive depending only on his own self although he has some friends such as Syria, Hezballah and Hamas. He is not making any progress in his relations with the west because he keeps on refusing any offer they bring him to end the Nuclear crises. Even North Korea that followed the self-reliance diplomacy did sometimes accept American offers in order not to make the situation bad to a level of a military facing.

 Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad

Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad Palestinian, Israeli Conflict Abu Mazen, israel, olmert, palestine, ziad abu zayyad

A good question to ask at the time that so many are suspicious about if they can do such a thing. Some are asking why the media is ignoring the talks between the two leaders and instead focusing on other stories especially in the Israeli media. Even the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange that used to rise when signs of peace showed is also ignoring them and reacting instead to events on Wall Street according to a writer in the Haaretz Newspaper. Actually after reading a post that talks about these questions in the Haaretz Newspaper, it really interested me to think about how and why and when can the Israeli and Palestinian leaders do something strong new and able to live and whether if they are able to do.Is it that the people are relying on them and have faith in what they are doing? Or they don’t believe in what they are doing and are not taking their talks seriously? Or maybe the two leaders are acting in a smart way by following the way of keeping their talks and ideas secret so no surprising act of one of their extreme parties could happen and make it more difficult for them?

Well its not easy to say that their people are supporting and relying on them because of the history of the both leaders; Olmert was in danger to lose his command for so many times because of what happened in Lebanon war and the internal Israeli issues that he faced for so many times. Abu Mazen situation is even worst with all the chaos in Gaza and the rebuilding state of his forces in the West Bank. Beside that a high percentage of the Palestinian people lost faith in his program of peace with Israel because of the promises he and the Fateh leaders gave in the past since Oslo to reach an agreement and bring them good life with an independent state, and were never achieved.

So we only have another two questions that could give us the real answer of why all of what is going on is not clear for the public. Either almost no one believes in what they are doing and they don’t have a chance to achieve something or they are planning good and preparing something that will surprise us as once their former leaders did in Oslo. To my opinion what is really going on is a mixture of both of the two questions; people are not optimistic because of what they suffered from since almost eight years and that’s why the Media is searching for better stories for the public. Concerning the strike exchange and ignoring the signs of peace as my friend says in the Haaretz, well still we didn’t see any sign of peace so it can change! Gaza is still in a state of war, the Israeli army is still striking there and the rockets are still launched from Gaza to the Israeli territories. Checkpoints are still made up in all the west bank and the Palestinians didn’t get any chance to taste a better thing in their daily life. Signs of peace appear after signing a peace agreement and taking actions to make this peace become real. I do believe that Olmert and Abu Mazen are working slowly and good for the first time. If they just came out together and declared the end of any violence from the both sides in ten minutes and said that they made peace, on the other day it will be like nothing happened. Abbas is still rebuilding his forces in the West Bank and searching for a solution for the Gaza issue. Olmert is weak from the inside because of his unity in the government with some right extreme parties and that’s why he is afraid of declaring anything concerning Jerusalem and the refugees (which are a part of any final agreement). Olmert actually is building his self to face the difficulties in signing any agreement, Ihud Baraq joined him in his government and he is showing to his people that he is rebuilding his army again to make them believe that he can obtain their security in facing any danger that could face them. On the other side they formed two groups to negotiate secretly on the final issues and they are meeting almost weekly to discuss how they can improve things. It is really similar to Arafat – Rabin negotiations before Oslo, but the only difference between them and these is the publics support that Olmert and Abbas did lose and are working to regain. So will they succeed with all of these difficulties? In November we will know, but if we take a quick look on some of the main difficulties they would face that are embodied mainly in those who are working against them politically; Hamas made some acts to prove that it is strong In Gaza and can control their, they wanted to prove this for the west so they can talk with them; proving for the west means the acceptance of the west ideas of peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, so maybe Abu Mazen could find a way to join them in his program if he gives them what they want concerning the government and the ministries, and also finding a way to make it similar between what they are asking for as a condition for not signing a peace agreement but at least to stop violence. Olmert chances are with his public support and there are so many smart Israelis that were used in the Oslo time to convince the Israelis to make peace and this could be used as a pressure on the Extreme right wings. Give them a chance and we will see if they will succeed at least in changing the situation for another period.

Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad

Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad Palestinian, Israeli Conflict Abu Mazen, israel, olmert, palestine, peace, ziad abu zayyad