Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Quraya, with his back to a wall Israel has built that cuts through the West Bank, has said peace will never dawn in the Middle East unless the barrier is removed.
| Funny. The Israelis say peace will never dawn unless the terrorism stops. Guess Rosy-fingered Dawn can continue snoozing... |
Israel says the barrier, a mix of fences and concrete walls that encroaches on West Bank land by differing amounts along its entire 150 km, is built for security reasons. Palestinians call it an attempt to annex or fragment occupied land. Quraya visited one section that encircles the Palestinian town of Qalqilya to dramatise their case against it. "From the edge of this racist separation wall, I appeal to the United States, to President George Bush, Europe and the United Nations to (understand) that this leaves no chance for the establishment of a Palestinian state," he said in the shadow of the 10-metre-high barrier. "I am not saying this emotionally. I am trying to attract attention to what they (Israel) are trying to do through this wall. They are drawing a picture of an imposed solution on the ground." The barrier's serpentine course has separated Palestinian farmers from their fields and crippled trade between villages and market towns like Qalqilya, where 40,000 people are ringed by concrete except for one gap with an Israeli army checkpoint. Israel is threatening a unilateral separation along the line of the wall to replace a tattered US-backed peace plan. The Palestinians fear this will dash their dream of a viable state of their own.
| The tattered US-backed peace plan — aka roadkill — called for the Paleos to bring the gunnies under control. That didn't happen. It called for Paleostinian elections. That didn't happen. It called for all sorts of things, none of which happened. The tattered US-backed peace plan, aka roadkill, was a product of the Quartett, which consisted of the US, the EU, the UN and Russia, an effort to work out something that would do mostly right by all parties and result in a Paleostinian state. Hamas used it for toilet paper. |
"Any talk of a state (for us) is a waste of time now because this wall... is meant to transform the West Bank into cantons and 'bantustans' in which there will be no form of (genuine) Palestinian rule or any chance for a Palestinian state," Quraya said. "But our people will not give in. They have several options and they will carry out such options."
| Most of them, of course, involve explosions... |
He did not elaborate, but last week he said Palestinians might demand a "bi-national" state encompassing both Israel and occupied territory, where Arabs could be in the majority. Another option, according to the Palestine Liberation Organisation's executive committee led by President Yasser Arafat, might be to proclaim a state unilaterally in the West Bank and Gaza, to counter Israel's threat to go it alone.
| But none of those options include bringing the snuffies to heel or holding elections. |
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