Dr. Hanan Ashrawi: Suggestions to Rescue Middle East Peace

[Ron Haleber]

From Unilateralism to Multilateralism: Suggestions to Rescue Middle East Peace

By: Dr. Hanan Ashrawi*


http://palestinechronicle.com/images/articles/2_images/hanan_1121.JPG

* Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council & the Secretary General of the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue & Democracy (MIFTAH).

Mevrouw Ashrawi is bekend als vechtster voor de mensenrechten van Palestijnen - kwam daarvoor vaak in conflict met Arafat en de PA. Bezocht Nederland.


In one fell blow, US President George W. Bush, having carried out a revolutionary reversal in American policy towards the Middle East, “succeeded” in subverting not only the road map, but any prospects for peace in the region. By lending legitimacy to the Israeli occupation’s lawlessness and violations of international law, the US has ultimately negated UN resolutions, including 194, 242, 338, 1397, international humanitarian law, and all other legal foundations on which a viable and just peace must be based.

By fully accommodating Sharon and his extremist government, the US is preempting and negatively prejudging permanent status issues—primarily boundaries, settlements, Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and water rights.

Furthermore, President Bush has become complicit with Israeli Prime Minister Sharon in completely excluding the Palestinians as partners in negotiations that determine their future. Ironically, Bush thereby gave himself license not only to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians, but also to compromise and relinquish their inalienable rights.

His endorsement of Sharon’s unilateralism and control is in effect a significant acquiescence to the transformation of Gaza into a massive prison, entirely besieged by Israel, with no attributes of sovereignty or independence. Israel will maintain full control of airspace, territorial waters, and crossing points of Gaza. In addition, the Gaza Bantustan will be cut off from the rest of the world and, most devastatingly, from the rest of Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Granting unqualified support to Sharon, Bush implicitly allowed Israel to extort the “right” to carry out incursions into Gaza and to maintain military presence there, as it sees fit, while simultaneously accepting the claim that Gaza is no longer “occupied territory.” The implications are enormous in that Israel will avoid any obligations or accountability in accordance with the Fourth Geneva Convention. Conversely, the Palestinian Authority will be held responsible for issues (most prominently security) it has been rendered incapable of controlling.

The US has effectively subverted the road map and replaced it with Sharon’s designs to introduce a long term interim phase in which Israel can have a free hand to create irreversible facts and finally eradicate the possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state on the June 4th, 1967, lines. In this context, Sharon has managed to transform the Quartet into a US monopoly, sidelining the remaining trio. He has also rid himself of the Palestinian “demographic nightmare” as well as the “security” concerns of the densely populated Gaza Strip. He demanded and received “payback” from the Americans in the form of territorial and demographic concessions in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, to serve Israel’s expansionist policy.

Israel manipulated the US in such a way as to gain retroactive legitimacy for its illegal settlements, while pressing ahead with its punitive wall of separation and land acquisition. In addition, Israel got tacit American approval for its assassination policy (which encouraged Sharon to threaten the life of the elected Palestinian President Yasser Arafat), as well as for its siege and fragmentation of the occupied territories. Furthermore, by making Sharon the promise of not allowing any other peace initiatives, including the Arab initiative adopted during the Arab League summit in Beirut, Bush passed up the historic opportunity of achieving a comprehensive peace in the region.

In an unprecedented policy shift, the US has become a partner in Israel’s illegal occupation, disqualifying itself as an evenhanded peace broker. It has further inflamed Palestinian, Arab, Islamic and even global public opinion by adopting such irresponsible policies that betray total ignorance of regional realities, thereby undermining its global credibility and standing. Most seriously, the US has fed the flames of extremism, radicalization, fundamentalism and violence, hence contributing to the causes of terrorism rather than eliminating them.

Given all of the above, is there any room for rectification or damage control?

It is incumbent upon the international community to address and redress the negative ramifications of such shortsightedness. The fact that the Quartet will be meeting in New York on May 4th, requires a swift formulation of remedial measures starting with the convening of an international conference to rearticulate a global commitment to a negotiated settlement that would bring about complete Israeli withdrawal and the establishment of a viable and independent Palestinian state on the June 4th, 1967, lines . This conference must also reaffirm the legal terms of reference for any peace process and ensure that no permanent status issue will be prejudged or preempted by any unilateral actions or declarations by the parties and the sponsors alike.

The Quartet can issue its own statement of assurances and guarantees to the Palestinians in order to undo part of the damage done by Bush’s assurances to Sharon. It is also the responsibility of the Quartet to incorporate any Israeli withdrawal within the road map as part of an ongoing peace process with a self sustaining momentum and clear steps of implementation. In addition, the Quartet must enter into negotiations with the Palestinians in order to work out a concrete plan for the empowerment of the PA, in order to be able to subsequently undertake its responsibilities and the takeover of Gaza.

Security issues can not be addressed apart from economic and political contexts and measures. Part of this empowerment includes control over the Palestinian airport, seaport and land crossing points in cooperation with the international community and with Egypt concerning the Philadelphia border in particular.

It would be inadvisable to allow for the continued exclusion of the legitimate Palestinian Authority or to maintain the possibility of internal conflict or collapse.

However, the continued erosion of the PA’s power and standing and its inability to deliver to its own people, let alone to the international community, would require some form of third party intervention in the form of transitional arrangements.

Such issues as water, sanitation, power, trade, and labor, among others require full coordination and partnership with a Palestinian counterpart. If the PA continues to be immobilized, then it should accept an international or multinational coalition to undertake such tasks, as well as overall responsibility for Gaza as a temporary measure. Israel would, therefore, cede Gaza to an ad hoc international body (a coalition of the willing) that would in turn and at the appropriate time hand over full responsibility to the Palestinian side in the context of a viable and sustained peace process.

In light of rapidly deteriorating conditions on the ground, there is an urgent need to transform potential disaster into an opportunity for hope and peace. This is a real test and challenge for the Quartet in their upcoming meeting.

http://www.amin.org/eng/hanan_ashrawi/2004/may12.html

AMIN= Arabic Media Internet Network - Internews Middle East

[mark61]

Hanan, roepende in de woestijn. En dan nog vrouw ook.

[Ron Haleber]

Geplaatst door mark61
Hanan, roepende in de woestijn. En dan nog vrouw ook.

Ja, vrouwen als zij en als Leila Shahid zouden candidaat moeten zijn voor premier en president van de Palestijnen. :staart: :staart:

Zij kunnen dan meteen helpen om het sterke machisme van dat volk af te bouwen... :ninja2:


Vreemd dat Maarten zich niet uit over haar voorstel! Maar ja die heeft het te druk met het buiten de EU houden van de Turken.... :huil2:

[Maarten]

Nou ik ben straks terug.. Maar Ashrawi kan wel gerekend worden tot een van de Groten der Aarde, ja...

[echnaton]

De volgende tekst vond ik op de site van het Vlaamse Palestinakomité. Ashrawi heeft haar handtekening gezet onder een oproep om de zelfmoordaanslagen te beëindigen.

Wat met de zelfmoordaanslagen?

De zelfmoordaanslagen op Israëlische burgers halen keer op keer het nieuws, en domineren het verhaal over het Midden-Oosten-conflict in onze media. Ook het Actieplatform Palestina veroordeelt deze aanslagen. Voor ons zijn ze een ongeoorloofde manier van actie voeren vanuit humanitair, moreel en politiek oogpunt. Bovendien helpen ze de Palestijnse zaak niet vooruit, wel integendeel. (...) Bovendien zijn het niet 'de' Palestijnen die zelfmoordaanslagen plegen. Het gaat om een kleine groep jongeren die in de eerste plaats door wanhoop worden gedreven. Dat vele Palestijnen de zelfmoordaanslagen afkeuren, blijkt uit een advertentie die verscheen in de krant al-Quds, een veelgelezen krant in de Bezette Gebieden. Ze werd ondertekend door 200 vooraanstaande Palestijnen. Dit is de tekst van de advertentie:

Dringende oproep om de zelfmoordaanslagen te stoppen
Wij, ondergetekenden, vinden het onze nationale verantwoordelijkheid om deze oproep te lanceren in het licht van de gevaarlijke situatie waarmee het Palestijnse volk wordt geconfronteerd. We roepen alle partijen achter de militaire operaties tegen Israëlische burgers op om hun strategie te herzien en op te houden jonge mannen tot dit soort acties te drijven. Zelfmoordaanslagen wakkeren haat aan en maken de kloof tussen het Palestijnse en het Israëlische volk enkel groter. Bovendien boren ze de mogelijkheden voor een vreedzaam samenleven tussen deze volkeren in twee naburige staten de grond in.

Voor ons dragen deze aanslagen niet bij tot de verwezenlijking van een nationaal project voor vrijheid en onafhankelijkheid. Integendeel, ze maken de vijanden van de vrede aan Israëlische zijde sterker, en geven Israëls agressieve regering onder Sharon het excuus om door te gaan met haar wrede oorlog tegen ons volk. Deze oorlog is gericht tegen onze kinderen, ouden van dagen, dorpen, steden, en tegen onze nationale hoop en verwezenlijkingen.

Militaire acties worden gezien (sic) kunnen niet als uitsluitend positief of negatief gezien worden, los van de algemene context en situatie. Ze moeten geëvalueerd worden naargelang ze een politiek doel dienen. Daarom moeten deze daden opnieuw geëvalueerd worden, waarbij we moeten bedenken dat we, als we de regio naar een existentiële oorlog leiden tussen twee volkeren die in het Heilige Land leven, de hele regio in de vernieling leiden. We kunnen geen enkele logische, humane of politieke rechtvaardiging vinden voor zo'n eindresultaat.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ondertekend:

Hieronder de Palestijnse intellectuelen en publieke personages die de petitie hebben getekend:

Dr. Sari Nuseiba
Dr. Hanan Ashrawi
Saleh Ra'fat
Salah Zuheika
Mamdouh Nofal
Hanna Sineora
Dr. Mohammad Ishtiya
Ibrahim Kandalaft
Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj
Dr. Moussa El-Budeiri
Huda El-Imam
Dr. Marwan Abu El-Zuluf
Saman Khoury
Dr. Said Zidani
Dr. Omayya Khammash
Dr. Jad Is'haq
Dr. Manuel Hassasian
Salah Abdel Shafi
Shaher Sa'ad
Dr. Mohammad Dajani
Imad Awad
Fadel Tahboub
Majed Kaswani
Taysir El-Zibri
Dr. Ahmad Majdalani
Dr. Taleb Awad
Khader Sh'kirat
Zahi Khouri
Majed Abu Qubo'
Ehab Boulous
Dr. Isam Nassar
Dr. Salim Tamari
Dr. Suad El-Ameri
Dr. Adam Abu Sh'rar
Dr. Riema Hamami
Subhi El-Z'beidi
Dr. Munther El-Dajani
Osama Daher
Simone Cupa
Jeana Abu El-Zuluf
Yousef Daher
Jamal Zaqout
Dr. Saleh Abdel Jawwad
Dr. Nathmi El-Ju'ba
Dr. Jamil Hilal
Dr. Arafat El-Hadmi
Dr. Leila Faydi
Dr. Zakaria El-Qaq
Amna Badran
Dr. Ali Q'leibo
Marwan Tarazi
Dr. Raja'I El-Dajani
Issa Q'seisiya
Hani El-Masri
Dr. Jumana Odeh
Lucy Nuseiba
Abdel Qader El-Husseini
Zahra El-Khaldi

[Ron Haleber]

Stad Sydney weigert Ashrawi bekroning te geven:


Discrimination Down Under? Sydney gives Ashrawi the cold shoulder
Allan Ramsey, Sydney Morning Herald, 25 October 2003

Dr. Hanan Mikhail Ashrawi is a woman, a professor of English, an international human rights activist, and a politician. A year ago she was chosen, unanimously, to receive the 2003 Sydney Peace Prize. The Premier, Bob Carr, will present Ashrawi with her award at State Parliament in 12 days. The first four recipients of the annual prize were honoured at functions in the Great Hall of Sydney University. They included South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1999), East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao (2000) and Australia's Sir William Deane (2001). However, for Ashrawi, the Great Hall is out of bounds.

This is not because Ashrawi is either a woman, an academic or a political activist. It is because she is a Palestinian. That is enough to ensure a virulent campaign of distortion and ridicule by Jewish critics to brutalise her image and try to have Carr renege on Ashrawi's presentation and the award taken from her. So far Carr has refused to buckle. Not so Sydney University.

Earlier this year the university's chancellor, Justice Kim Santow of the NSW Supreme Court, made it known to Professor Stuart Rees, director of the Sydney Peace Foundation, and to Kathryn Greiner, the foundation's chairwoman at the time, that the Great Hall would be closed to Ashrawi. Rees and an academic colleague, Ken McNabb, took the matter to Sydney's vice-chancellor, Gavin Brown. In what was called a "difficult and shameful" meeting, Brown confirmed the decision. The campaign now is about maximum political pressure for other corporate and civic sponsors to abandon Ashrawi and intimidate Carr.

Verder verhaaL:

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2105.shtml

[Julien]

:duim: voor deze vrouw

waarom heeft Arafat nobelprijs gehad en zij niet?

[Ron Haleber]

Hanan herdenkt het geweldloos verzet van een van een platgebuldozerde Amerikaanse van23 jaar...



Rachel Corrie Joins Palestinians in Longing for Justice
March 17, 2004

By Hanan Ashrawi

http://www.miftah.org/Doc/Spotlight/2004/Mar17.jpg

The oppressive nature of a military occupation eventually victimizes the occupier much like it does the occupied. Gradually, the stench of moral decay overwhelms, internalizing a warped system of “values” that erodes the fabric of the occupying power’s society from within. Generations, haunted by a history of murder, will have to acknowledge, and bear the consequences, that the source of their deprived humanity was their very own elected leadership. The tragedy, of course, is the realization that this could have been prevented.

Israel, the patron of the longest occupation in modern history, is on a steady course to moral bankruptcy. A staggering absence of any critical self-examination and assessment within Israeli society, which has long surrendered to panic politics and an ingrained belief that they are the sole victims, has allowed the generation of a horrific pattern of “legalized” injustice, turning the Palestinian territory into killing fields. In rationalizing and distorting the horrors of its occupation, Israel has unashamedly resorted to perhaps the most indicative sign of guilt, blaming the victim.

When Israeli troops ruthlessly murdered Rachel Corrie, she became the victim of both Israel’s brutal occupation and the full force of its “spin machine.” It is a common trait of the cowardly to malign the victim, in this case, accusing her of having brought about the deserved cruelty of the crime. A ruthless campaign was pursued to distort the truth, despite irrefutable evidence, resulting in the total dehumanization of the victim and the elimination of her most basic rights and attributes as well as claims to protection.

Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old student from Olympia, Washington, was murdered while attempting to prevent an Israeli army bulldozer from demolishing a Palestinian home near the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Despite being dressed in a bright colored orange vest, with reflective stripes, and carrying a bullhorn in broad daylight, Israel claimed the soldier driving a 52 ton D-9 bulldozer “could not see” his victim, as he mercilessly crushed her.

When photographs emerged clearly depicting this horrific crime, the Israeli military immediately accused Rachel Corrie of being “irresponsible,” as though this justified deliberate death. Adding insult to injury, in a recent tasteless commentary printed in Israel’s most popular English language newspaper, The Jerusalem Post, the writer is appalled by the exploitive use of the photographs, rather than the murder they so clearly document.

Rachel Corrie was the first US citizen to fall victim to Israel’s indiscriminate lethal force; her death remains ruled as an accident, without any objections from the American government . In fact, the perpetuation of the most brutal (and last remaining) military occupation in history “enjoys” the cover of impunity provided by its strategic alliance with the US, which has produced an alarming formula for lawlessness, radicalization, violence, and destabilization.

And so, it is with the blessings of the US that Corrie’s killer walks free. As Israeli tanks roll through Palestinian villages, towns, and refugee camps; as Apache gunships shell homes and assassinate their human targets; as Palestinian land is stolen and Israeli settlements are expanding; as Israeli prisons swell with Palestinians and the separation wall turns all Palestinian areas into prisons and isolation cells; Washington turns a blind eye.

Rachel Corrie came to the Palestinian territory armed with only her humanity. She believed in non-violent resistance and paid for it with her life. While her family and friends continue calling for an independent investigation, perhaps knowing that Palestinians remember the selflessness and bravery of a young woman, whose life was callously frozen at 23, brings some comfort .

[Ron Haleber]

Het vergeefse pleidooi van Ashrawi voor democratische verkiezingen

Palestinian Elections: Why, When, Where, Who?

By Dr. Hanan Ashrawi

Elections, after all, may be the handle that would offer a way out of the current deadlock.

The argument put forth by many in the Palestinian Authority for rejecting elections (at least at present) may be summarized as follows:

1 The physical conditions on the ground, mainly the siege and fragmentation of the Palestinian territory, with the lack of freedom of movement, plus the constant Israeli military escalation in the form of shelling, bombing, assassinations, home demolition, incursions, killings, etc. all render the mere possibility of conducting free and fair elections entirely unfeasible.

2 The same conditions, along with the further aggravation of the failure of the peace process, will weigh heavily against any “moderate” or “pragmatic” leadership, and therefore will render the election results non-representative—having been conducted in an “abnormal” state of crisis and instability.

3 These prolonged, adverse conditions have also served to radicalize the Palestinian public—caught in a state of collective pain, trauma, and grief—hence giving an unfair advantage to the opposition, primarily to the Islamists.

4 The measures undertaken by the PA in pursuing the “militants” and incarcerating activists as a result of international pressure, as well as the PA institutional, structural, and economic weakness (bordering on collapse) have also undermined the PA and weakened its chances of victory while strengthening the Islamic groups who are being seen as the only people resisting the occupation while providing the destitute Palestinian population with services and economic assistance that the PA (facing bankruptcy and internal fragmentation) has been rendered incapable of offering.

5 A non-declared underlying reason has constantly been the PA’s aversion to holding elections (in any sector or authority) both as a matter of historical practice or inherent disinclination or out of fear of losing the control and power it enjoys.

[...]

Beyond that, and as a means of addressing and redressing the current situation, the argument in favor of elections may be summarized as follows:

1. The requirements for holding free and fair elections could be the most appropriate opening for European (and American?) intervention in conditions on the ground to bring pressure to bear on Israel to lift the siege (both internal and external) and to end Israeli military assaults on the Palestinians.

2 The same requirements could provide the mechanisms for international monitoring whereby the physical presence of a large number of monitors would contribute directly to the reduction or elimination of friction and violence.

3 The Palestinian people in the OPT as a whole will not only feel empowered, but will also re-engage in a process that would offer them the promise of change and effective participation—an opportunity that would effect the collective mood and ethos and consequently refocus attention and energies towards more constructive pursuits.

4 The requirements would also include the alleviation of the drastic economic hardships that have crippled “normal” life in order to transform the dynamic from the “survival” and “endurance” mode to a more proactive participatory dynamic with a positive outlook.

5 The legitimacy of a duly elected leadership would also extend beyond the boundaries of Palestine to prevent further external meddling in (and manipulation of) the domestic political scene, thereby depriving the ilks of Sharon of the arrogant attempts at determining the “relevance” or “effectiveness” of the Palestinian leadership.

6 While the real issue is not the timing, however, these elections should be planned and announced well in advance in order to provide for the prerequisite steps on the ground.

7 Sufficient advance notice should also prepare the collective Palestinian mind set for adopting and adapting to the substantive issues to be addressed by the candidates, while affording the latter sufficient time to articulate their agendas and platforms and to address their constituencies accordingly.

8 These elections should also be part of the preparatory steps for statehood, rather than an after-the-fact move. It is particularly important that the requisite conditions for the embodiment of statehood are in place, and that the “declaration of statehood” does not become an abstract or recurrent political exercise with no concrete substance.

9 Any initiative or ideas, by Europeans and others, must include assurances and guarantees to ensure that this is not just another abstract political exercise, a “buying time” device, or a move that can be exploited by the Sharon government to create more facts and to implement more of its dangerous policies.

10 Ultimately, there has to be a qualitative shift in the prevailing dynamic, and not just a temporary diversion. This requires the introduction of a new paradigm with a reinvigorated approach to peace making that can alter conditions on the ground while simultaneously charting a firm and clear alternative course—the path to a just peace.

http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=561&CategoryId=1

[Ron Haleber]

Geplaatst door Julien
:duim: voor deze vrouw

waarom heeft Arafat nobelprijs gehad en zij niet?

Arafat kreeg hem omdat hij samen met Rabin een Amerikaanse deal had gesloten...

Ashrawi houdt van echte vrede en dan kom je niet voor vredesprijzen in aanmerking... Zie de Australiérs!