Palestinian leaders yesterday reasserted the right to unilaterally declare an independent state in the absence of a peace deal with Israel, responding to Israelâs own threats of one-sided action. The PLO Executive Committee, one of the Palestiniansâ key leadership bodies, met Friday night to discuss the ongoing conflict with Israel and reiterated the right to declare a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Arab parts of Jerusalem â lands that Israel took control of in the 1967 Mideast war.
| Once the wall's built, go ahead and do it. |
But the Palestiniansâ path to statehood has come under question amid warnings by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that he could give up on peace talks and draw a boundary that would leave the Palestinians with much less land than they seek.
| Maybe the Paleostinians should consider giving up some land for peace. |
The back-and-forth talk of unilateral action reflects frustration on both sides with more than three years of fighting and stalled peace talks. Yesterday, Saleh Rafat, a member of the PLO committee, said Israelâs actions will not prevent the Palestinians from declaring âan independent Palestinian state within the 1967 border.â But there are no immediate plans to declare a state, Rafat said. Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat also emphasized that a âtwo-state solution is the option of the Palestinian leadership.â From exile in Tunis, the Palestinian National Council declared an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza in 1988 â a move that was never recognized internationally. In 1999, Yasser Arafat threatened to declare a state again, but backed down after then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would annex parts of the West Bank in response. Now the Palestinians face threats from Israel that they could be left with far less territory than theyâve sought for a future state.
| They brought that on themselves, not that they recognize the connection between their own acts and the consequences... |
Sharon recently outlined a plan under which he would withdraw forces from parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, dismantle some Jewish settlements along the way and draw his own boundary between Israel and the Palestinians if peace talks remain stopped. Some Israeli officials believe the Palestinians, possibly even Arafat, are seeking a new strategy: Waiting for demographics to resolve the conflict. Experts have predicted the Palestinians will outnumber Jews in the coming decades. About 3.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and Gaza, in addition to 1.2 million Arab citizens of Israel. About 5.5 million Jews live in Israel.
| They can breed as much as they want within their walls... |
In an interview on Thursday, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei said if peace talks fail and Sharon follows through with his âdisengagementâ plan the Palestinians would push for a binational state of Arabs and Jews. Such a scenario would spell disaster for Israelâs Jewish character, because the Palestiniansâ higher birthrate would soon put Arabs in the majority. Israel would then face a choice between giving Palestinians the right to vote or becoming a minority-ruled country like apartheid South Africa.
| Which is why they won't accept it. |
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