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Palestinian views on the peace process

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In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there are a variety of Palestinian views of the peace process. This article discusses the views held by important Palestinian figures as documented in interviews or in other sources, and by the general population as documented by polls.

The Palestinian people

In general the amiability of the Palestinians towards "the peace process" depends on the current social and economic circumstances they find themselves in. Whenever they feel more oppressed they are more likely to support extremist organisations than otherwise. The perspective has consistantly reflected a view of survival against supremicist zionist colonialism over their territories and people.

The most recent draft of the palestinian constution [1] bu the National Comittiee states a desire to adhear to international law as set out by the United nations and to give all peoples within it's borders human and civil rights.

As far as the Palestinian refugees are concerned, many of them would like to return to their original homes (see right to return) often regardless of what kind of state they would find themselves in as a result. Any possible peace deal is judged in this way.


Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad

The stated goal of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad is to overthrow Israel and replace it with an Islamic theocracy or Islamist state. Both parties undertook a three month hudna (some sort of ceasefire) indirectly in support of the "Road map for peace" at the urging of then Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas.

Yasser Arafat

Acceptance of Israel's right to exist in peace is the first of the PLO's obligations in the Oslo accords. In Yasir Arafat's September 9, 1993 letter to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, as part of Oslo I, Arafat stated that "The PLO recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security."

Arafat likes to be seen as promoting peace as best he can without squandering the Palestinian cause, despite the fact the Israeli government keeps him "quarantined" and threatens to kill him. For example, Electronic Intifada states that Arafat has made several calls for an end to violence and lasting peace, in both Arabic and English [2].

Arafat, being the indisputed leader of the Palestinians at the moment, has to deal with unfavorable views by many Israelis, who see him as merely using the peace process to extract short-term concessions and merely viewing it as a stepping stone on the road to the complete destruction of the state of Israel. For example, Danny Naveh, a member of Israel's Likud party, claimed in April 2002 that Yasser Arafat was not a "partner for peace".

For more details, see Yasser Arafat

The Palestine Liberation Organization

The Palestine Liberation Organization's 1968 policy statement, the Palestinian National Covenant was renounced by the National comittee which has now amended three drafts of it's national constution calling for peacfull soverignty over the borders respected by international law.[3]

Faisal Husseini

Faisal Husseini, former Palestinian Authority Minister for Jerusalem, was well known in Israeli circles as a Palestinian dove and moderate. He was an extremely high-ranking official who represented the most liberal faction of the Palestinian Authority. He stated that "Palestinians believe that Jerusalem should be a shared, open city; two capitals for two states."

On 24 June 2000, in an taped interview with journalist Shafik Ahmed Ali, given to the Egyptian newspaper el Arav, Faisal Husseini compared the Oslo accords to a "Trojan horse". [Amir, 2001]

Other prominent Palestinians

Circa 2000, Sari Nusseibeh was the representative of the Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem, he called for historic compromises by both Palestinian and Israelis, in order to secure a permanent and lasting peace. For example, he states that Palestinians must give up the right to return, with this concession, he argues, a true and lasting peace can emerge.

"Palestinians are no strangers to compromise. In the 1993 Oslo Accords, we agreed to recognize Israeli sovereignty over 78 percent of historic Palestine and to establish a Palestinian state on only 22 percent." -- Saeb Erekat, Chief Palestinian negotiatior, August 5, 2000

Rashid Abu Shbak, a senior PA security official declared: "The light which has shone over Gaza and Jericho [when the PA assumed control over those areas] will also reach the Negev and the Galilee [which constitute a large portion of pre-1967 Israel]." (Yediot Ahronot, May 29, 1994)

The PA's Voice of Palestine radio broadcast a Friday prayer sermon by Yusuf Abu Sneineh, official preacher at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, in which he asserted: "The struggle we are waging is an ideological struggle and the question is: where has the Islamic land of Palestine gone? Where is Haifa and Jaffa, Lod and Ramle, Acre, Safed and Tiberias? Where is Hebron and Jerusalem?" (Voice of Palestine, May 23, 1997)

PA cabinet minister Abdul Aziz Shaheen told the official PA newspaper Al-Havat Al-Jadida (January 4, 1998): "The Oslo accord was a preface for the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Authority will be a preface for the Palestinian state which, in its turn, will be a preface for the liberation of the entire Palestinian land."

Maps and textbooks

A number of Palestinian maps are alleged to label all of the State of Israel, as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as "Palestine". Such maps appear on PA Television; in the offices of PA officials; in textbooks used in PA schools; and on the shoulder-patches of PA police officers. In 1988, when the PLO applied for admission to the World Health Organization, and used the map of all of Palestine in its application papers.

Those allegations have been partially opposed, in a study by Professor Nathan Brown of George Washington University in November 2001: On they other hand, they are supported by a report of the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace.

In Israel, some maps show the West Bank and Gaza Strip as part of Israel. These include maps on Israeli govenment sites. [4] [5]

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