Interessant artikel voor vreedzame Palestijnen en Israeli's

[StevenNr1]

Of hoe het conflict daar misschien opgelost zou moeten worden:

‘A different future in different circumstances’
Palestine: land with interest

This is a dissident proposal for a just and lasting settlement to the Israel-Palestine conflict, based not on current western beliefs but on the body of law formulated by the international community all the way back to 1947. At its basis is financial reparation for land occupation and expropriation.

By Georges Corm

The United States, with most of Europe behind it, sees three key requirements for any global solution to the Middle East conflicts: Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank and Hizbullah in Lebanon must be eradicated, or at least their military wings should be; the Iranian and Syrian regimes, which it considers hostile to its policies of regional stabilisation, must be brought into line; and, with help from the US and Europe, democracy and the rule of law must spread through the Arab world.

The US is convinced that the success of its campaign against terrorism in the region rests on this policy and expects vigorous support from the region’s governments, political parties and civil society. It believes this will provide a solution to the Palestinian problem. It would give Israel the reassurance it needs on its own future and its peaceful regional integration, which would open the way for Israel to cede territory and allow the emergence of a Palestinian state.

But many of the West’s political parties and media think the Israeli and US armies in the area have a single objective: to deliver the world from terrorism and usher in peace and democracy. This, in a nutshell, is the West’s policy for the Middle East.

There is another, dissident view, which many see as unrealistic or dangerous. However, it needs to be brought into the open since it reflects the aspirations of many democrats and pacifists in the region, whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim.

This view is rooted in the body of law that the international community has elaborated around the Israel-Palestine conflict ever since 1947. It results from the reasonable observation that the violence affecting Syria, Lebanon and Palestine is the consequence of Israel’s decades-long occupation of land belonging to these countries, and of the daily treatment imposed on their populations in violation of all legal principle and common humanity.

We can consider the dissident view point by point.

1) Palestinian society, from the Mediterranean to the Jordan river, is both open and multi-ethnic, reflecting the spirit of the United Nations’ 1948 and 1949 rulings on the Israel-Palestine conflict; none of the different religious communities has the monopoly over political power and armed force. Jerusalem is an open city with a municipal council composed in equal proportion of Jews, Christians and Muslims.

2) In line with the 2004 opinion of the International Court of Justice at The Hague, there must be no delay in dismantling the wall that Israel has erected along the West Bank to contain the local population. The Palestinians must have total freedom of movement both within the West Bank and to the Gaza Strip. Israel should no longer control Palestinians travelling outside their borders unless they are crossing into Israel. This is a matter for the Palestinian Authority, or the Egyptian and Jordanian police if their borders are concerned. Israel must immediately lift the air, sea and land blockades aimed at the Palestinian people.

3) Those Israeli settlers who are living in settlements established in violation of the Geneva conventions may remain in their homes, as long as Israel compensates those Palestinians whose lands have been seized. The legal interest should be payable at the 12-monthly London interbank rate offered for US dollar deposits.

4) Following UN resolution 194 of 11 December 1948 the Palestinians and their descendants expelled from their homes or ousted by the advancing Israeli army both in 1948 and 1967 must now enjoy the right of return to their historical homelands, or receive Israeli compensation in lieu.

5) The Israeli army must withdraw within 15 days from the areas it has been occupying in the West Bank and Gaza, making way for an international force entrusted with the protection of the Palestinian community in the occupied territories.

6) A referendum must be held after a seven-year period both in Israel and the territories occupied since 1967. The two communities must pronounce on whether they wish to continue living together within a single unified or federal state, or as two separate states.

7) The G7 states and the Arab members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) should together finance a compensation fund for the Palestinian people in the occupied territories. The fund will provide reparation for the occupation of Palestinian lands and the repression the Palestinian people that has endured over recent decades.

8) Whatever the solution adopted, the Israeli-Palestinian state or the two states of Israel and Palestine must make a commitment to remain neutral on the international scene, and to abstain from engaging in any form of privileged relations, military or political, with the regional and global powers.

9) Since 1967 Israel has occupied Syria’s Golan Heights. These must now be returned to Syria, with demilitarised safety zones on both sides of the border. The Israeli settlers in the area may remain in their homes under the same conditions as for the West Bank. The two countries shall resume diplomatic and economic relations as soon as the safety zones are in place and the settlers’ obligations acquitted.

10) Israel must return the Shebaa Farms area, which it still occupies, to Lebanon; it should then also ensure mine-clearance in the south of the country. It has been occupying Lebanon for the last 22 years in contravention of resolution 425 of the UN Security Council, effectively preventing the UN from deploying its interim force (Unifil) to the border between the two countries. The UN must see that demilitarised zones on both sides of the border are enforced. Lebanon must also receive compensation for the economic losses that Israel has repeatedly caused it since 1968: Israel has claimed rights of reprisal that it has exacted with relentless assiduity. Israel, the G8 and the Arab Opec states shall make equal contributions to this fund, paying interest for arrears as defined above.

11) Israel must immediately release all Palestinian prisoners from the West Bank and Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.

12) Palestinians with Israeli citizenship must be allowed to exercise full civil and political rights. The Israeli electoral system must guarantee their fair representation in the Israeli parliament, as well as in the country’s local councils and administrative, military and judicial institutions.

Bron: Le Monde Diplomatique - December 2006

Ik vind het zeker niet slecht hoe men het in dit artikel stelt. Stof om over na te denken en eens wat anders dan focussen op 't geweld.