Mahmoud Abbas has said Palestinians will “no longer continue to be bound” by the Oslo accords unless they receive “international protection” from Israel.Speaking at the UN general assembly in New York, the Palestinian president said the 20-year-old peace agreements needed updating and were not workable if they remained one-sided. Watched stony-faced by the Israeli delegation led by ambassador Ron Prosor, Abbas on Wednesday called for the international community to recognise Palestine as a state under occupation in the same way that countries were occupied in the second world war.Describing the situation as “unsustainable”, and with Palestinian patience “at an end”, Abbas also accused Israel of risking turning a political conflict into a religious one over the issue of Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque – the focus of recent clashes. The Palestine economy in both the West Bank and Gaza is controlled by Israel, which views security above humanity.Smoking the peace pipe with different regimes in Israel has been an exercise in futility. Palestinians are clearly weary walking the road to reconciliation. The West tried its hand with the Middle East Peace Quartet helmed by Tony Blair which focused on behind-the-scenes diplomacy but had nothing to show for the efforts. Israel and the Palestinian Territories have coordinated to maintain security in the area. Even that is under threat. Nonviolent resistance against Israel is an option, but what if the aggressor is unmoved and the West is looking elsewhere to make peace. Should the Palestinians get active at the global diplomatic level to press for sanctions against Israel? How will they do it without Hamas and Fatah coming together first?
Abbas and his people are currently stranded in a \’peaceful conflict zone\’, forsaken, with no one looking their way. Israel insists on direct talks, while Palestine officials say the Oslo accords signed in the 1990s, which envisage a two-state solution, should be the basis of any future negotiation. The Oslo agreements, signed in 1993, were to be implemented in five years but both parties pulled in different directions. The two-state solution has taken a blow. To revive it, both sides should come together. But how? Will a little nudge from the US and the United Nations help? Despite its many failures in the region, the US holds some clout over Israel, at least at the moral level. It’s still the most honest broker – unless it wants to cede space to Russia like it did in Syria.
pk.shafaqna.com
