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Palestinians reject Bush, Sharon plans<br>
by Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank<br>
Thursday 15 April 2004 12:27 PM GMT <br><br>
<br>
<b>Palestinian leaders have rejected a change in US policy announced
during a joint press conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon as a "new Balfour Declaration".<br><br>
</b></font><font size=2>Departing from the longstanding American policy
in the Middle East on Wednesday, Bush declared that Israel could keep at
least some illegal settlements in the West Bank.<br><br>
He added that Palestinian refugees had no right to return to their native
hometowns and villages in Israel. <br>
<br>
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasir Arafat labelled Bushs statements a
"new Balfour Declaration", alluding to the infamous British
declaration of 1917, which gave Palestine to Zionist Jews as a national
homeland.<br>
<br>
"This is another Balfour Declaration. It will blow up the peace
process from its foundation. It will tear up all peace efforts to
smithereens," Arafat told reporters in Ram Allah on
Thursday.<br><br>
<b>PM reaction<br><br>
</b>Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Quraya condemned the statements as
"illegal, unlawful and inconsistent with international law.
<br><br>
"This is like someone giving a part of Texas to the Chinese,"
said a sombre and grim-faced Quraya.<br>
<br>
The Palestinian Prime Minister, whose popularity has dwindled very much
of late, said the Palestinian people would never ever accept Bushs
statements.<br>
<br>
"He [Bush] is the first President who has legitimised the
settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. We reject these
statements, we can't accept them."<br><br>
<b>Another Bin Ladin</b> <br><br>
Other Palestinian officials have been more outspoken in expressing their
outrage and indignation at Bushs remarks.<br>
<br>
"We dont have only one Bin Ladin, we have two: Usama bin Ladin and
George Bush," said Abd Allah Abd Allah, deputy foreign minister of
the Palestinian Authority, in an interview with Aljazeera.net.<br>
<br>
He argued that Bush was introducing "destructive and blind religious
extremism" into American policy in the Middle East.<br>
<br>
"I dont believe he said what he said because of election
considerations. Bush is an avowed Christian Zionist and his ideas and
beliefs can be considered as the Christian equivalent of Bin Ladins
ideas."<br>
<br>
However, the PA official said the Palestinians would not panic or lose
their mental equanimity as a result of the crisis.<br><br>
He pointed out that the PA leadership was making hectic contacts with the
European Union, Arab states and Russia for the purpose of enlisting
opposition to "Bush's brazen adoption of Sharons agenda".
<br><br>
"We are going to take a number of practical and tangible steps aimed
at consolidating the Palestinian stance. We obviously cant be indifferent
to this grave matter." <br><br>
<b>Few choices<br>
</b> <br>
Notwithstanding the angry reactions, it is clear that the PA ability to
put up an effective and sustained resistance to the most radical
alteration of US Middle East policy since 1967 is very limited.<br>
<br>
Indeed, the Arab world, whose leaders face a chronic legitimacy crisis at
home and mounting pressures for reform from the United States, is in a
state of disarray. <br><br>
<br>
President Bush himself, and certainly his even more conservative allies,
seem to realise this dismal state of affairs.<br>
<br>
Bush's statements came less than 24 hours after his meeting with visiting
Egyptian President Husni Mubarak and only a few days before his scheduled
meeting with King Abd Allah of Jordan.<br>
<br>
This, according to Abd al-Sattar Kasim, professor of political science at
the National University of Nablus, underscores and embodies the Bush
administrations utter contempt for Arab leaders.<br>
<br>
"Unfortunately, these leaders have lost all sense of personal or
national dignity. They act as submissive servants of their American
master & they are like dogs gasping after a dry bone."<br><br>
<b>No authority<br><br>
</b>Kasim ridiculed the Palestinian Authority, comparing it with
"Alice in wonderland."<br>
<br>
"The PA is a burden on the Palestinian people, not on Israel. It
should be terminated immediately in order to make the occupation appear
as it really is."<br><br>
Kasim refused to consider Bush's statements as a "new
development", arguing that all that Bush did was to switch from
"de facto to de jure". <br><br>
He predicted that US president's "vindictive enmity to the
Palestinian people" would produce two main effects in the coming
period.<br><br>
The first is a dramatic escalation in the open confrontation between the
US and the "secret resistance groups". The second would be the
"widening and sharpening of the chasm between the despotic leaders
and the masses".<br><br>
<br>
<b>Scrap the PA<br><br>
<br>
</b>Muawiya al-Masri, a Palestinian lawmaker representing the northern
West Bank city of Nablus, said that the only effective response to Bush's
assurances to Israel was the "elimination and dismantlement of the
PA".<br><br>
"Look, why should we continue deceiving ourselves? The PA doesnt
exist in reality. Some people claim the PA controls 20 square metres
outside Arafat's office in Ram Allah, but this is not true.<br>
<br>
"Ram Allah is the only place in the West Bank where Israeli forces
roam the streets using jeeps, not tanks as is the case elsewhere, which
means the Zionists feel more at home in Ram Allah than in other parts of
the occupied territories."<br><br>
And like Kasim, al-Masri said that it would be futile and self-defeating
to count on the Arab governments.<br>
<br>
"The Arab regimes are part of the problem, actually they are the
problem. On the one hand, they are afraid to lose power because of
simmering discontent at home, and on the other they are constantly
bullied by the Americans to be more loyal slaves."<br><br>
<b>Vindicating resistance?<br>
</b> <br>
For their part, Palestinian Islamists reacted to Bushs statements by
reasserting the "resistance choice". <br><br>
"I think that Bush's statements are a clear vindication of the
resistance choice," said top Hamas official Khalid Mashal during a
television interview last night.<br>
<br>
Mashal said the Palestinians ought to respond to "Bush's
provocations" which he also called a new Balfour Declaration by
cementing their national unity behind the resistance.<br>
<br>
"Freedom is earned, not given on a silver platter," he
said.<br><br>
</font><font size=3><b>Aljazeera<br>
By Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank<br><br>
</b>You can find this article at:<br>
<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/158B6782-853E-49F9-9B50-780DDCC03A56.htm" eudora="autourl">http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/158B6782-853E-49F9-9B50-780DDCC03A56.htm</a>
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