The new Palestinian leadership is prepared to resume the peace process with Israel without delay, "even immediately", Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath told Arab News yesterday.
| I'd suggest waiting three or four months before plugging in the Peace Processor again... |
Speaking in a telephone interview, Shaath said it was unfair to blame Yasser Arafat for the deadlock in the peace process that began almost four years ago. "The Israelis used Arafat as an excuse to derail the peace process," he said. "With Arafat now gone, they have no excuse."
| That sort of thinking is why I suggest waiting. Maybe make it six months... |
Shaath said the framework for the resumption of talks should be the so-called road map proposed by US President George W. Bush and supported by the European Union, the United Nations and Russia. "We are ready to meet our obligations," Shaath said. "We must work together to create security for both sides."
| They should be able to do that in three to six months, I'd guess... |
In what sounded like informal guidelines for negotiations, Shaath said both sides should take measures to reduce tension and refrain from acts that might harm the cause of peace.
| Does that mean no more bus booms? No more 4-year-olds slaughtered in their jammies? |
He said the Palestinians looked to President Bush and other sponsors of the road map to move fast to revive hopes of a peaceful settlement to the 50-year old conflict.
| Six months is fast in the wonderful world of diplomacy. Ask anybody in Darfur... |
Asked to comment on reports of a power struggle within the Palestinian leadership, Shaath said much of that came from "sources with doubtful intentions."
| Like the guys struggling for power, maybe? Or were you still nattering on about the Jews? |
He said the Palestinians realized that this was a crucial moment in their history and that they cannot afford any internecine feuds. "Our institutions are working in accordance with the Basic Law," Shaath said. "People should wait and see how we work before they judge us."
| Good idea. Six months it is, then... |
He said there was a large measure of consensus on free and fair elections, and called upon the international community to help organize the elections within the 60-day limit envisaged by the Basic Law (constitution). "Israel must end its occupation of our cities and let us breathe," Shaath said. "The Israelis must remove the road blocks, let our people move, and resume a normal life as we prepare for the elections."
He said Israel should not attempt to interfere in the Palestinian people's forms of mourning their lost leader. "The Israelis should stop trying to dictate our joys and our sorrows," Shaath said. "They should let us be, at least in this moment of grief."
| I doubt Israel really gives a fart, unless something blows up. |
Shaath said the Palestinians would always remember Arafat as the man who brought them together and gave them a national identity. "Before Arafat, we were refugees seeking charity in the eyes of the world," the foreign minister said. "Arafat gave us a sense of dignity, made us realize that we are a nation, and persuaded the whole world to recognize us as such. Even the Israelis who never mentioned the word Palestinian ended up accepting that we are a people, a nation."
| Yeah, and then he screwed it up, because he was a revolutionary and not a statesman. Who's going to take over now that he's gone? A statesman? Another revolutionary? Or a party hack with no power either way? We'll know in six months. |
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