Peace is dead
March 16, 2010
"Things have changed," he said. "We've never had an Israeli government like this one, publically saying I will continue to colonize and settle because this is my right. I will keep the whole of the Jordan valley, which is 40 percent of the West Bank, Israeli and I will not withdraw from one inch of Jerusalem."
Shaath said the moderate Palestinian Authority, nominally authorised to lead negotiations with Israel, had given America a chance to "restrain" the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu, but it had failed and that any chance of negotiations, even indirectly, were finished.
Israel's ambassador in Washington, Michael Oren, has called the situation "a crisis of historic proportions." He said that relations between the two countries were the worst in 35 years, referring to the stand off between Henry Kissinger and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin over the Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai in the aftermath of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
No land and no peace
The rift was sparked during US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories last week during which Israel's Interior Ministry announced plans for 1,600 new Jewish homes to be built in Palestinian East Jerusalem, despite President Barack Obama's demand for a freeze on such illegal settlements.
The Israeli plan to build new units in East Jerusalem in the mainly ultra-orthodox Ramat Shlomo settlement, an area taken by Israel in 1967, but regarded by Palestinians as part of their future capital, sparked outrage among Palestinians and the Obama administration alike.
"The speed at which Jerusalem is being Judaised and de-Arabised has surpassed any period in the history of the peace process and is so alarming that we cannot possibly continue giving cover to Mr Netanyahu that we are still negotiating while he is doing this," said Shaath.
"We came in to this thing on the basis of land for peace. There is no land and there is no real peace. But the land is being eaten piece by piece. How do you keep negotiating that? There is a time you decide you cannot continue this way. You learn," he said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called the announcement "an insult" and warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his government sent a "deeply negative signal" by undermining months of US diplomacy aimed at starting so-called proximity peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis.
Clinton demanded the Israeli decision be reversed and called on Israel to make a public declaration stating talks with the Palestinians will deal with the conflict's core issues: final status agreement on the borders of a Palestinian state; the right of Palestinian refugees to return; East Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital; security arrangements; water resources and settlement issues.
Right to armed struggle
Fatah's position on negotiations with Israel was echoed by Osama Hamdan, a member of the Hamas' political bureau: "The peace process is dead."
The last round of talks broke down in December as a result of Israel's devastating war on Gaza, but had been revived by the US, despite the massive political and geographical division between the Palestinian leadership.
Fatah and Hamas have long had a cantankerous relationship which came to a head after Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian elections. Heavy fighting in May 2007 between the two parties ended with Hamas taking control of the Gaza strip whilst Fatah remained in control of the West Bank.
The victory of Hamas, an Islamist movement sworn to the destruction of Israel and listed as a terrorist organisation by the US and EU countries, led to sanctions and the suspending of foreign aid on which the Palestinians depend.
Aid to Gaza has been promised to resume if Hamas fulfils three core demands by the international community: recognise Israel; accept agreements made by the previous Fatah-led administration; and renounce violence.
The two sides came together in Doha this week for their first public meeting since the 2007 split for a special session of the so-called Doha Debates hosted by the Qatar foundation. Although the two sides have tried to reconcile their differences, most recently in Egyptian-brokered talks, no deal has so far been signed.
According to Hamas' Hamdan one of the major stumbling blocks to reconciliation is their differing positions on the Palestinian armed struggle. "Abu Mazen totally opposes armed struggle against Israel, whereas we believe resistance is a major tool in the struggle," he told Deutsche Welle.
"The question is not rockets," said Hamdan. "The question is whether we have the right to resistance."
To underline Hamas' position, Hamdan cites future Israeli plans for Jewish settlements. "When Mitchell [US peace envoy to the Middle East] came they announced the construction of 112 units in the West Bank. When Biden came they announced 1,600 new units in Jerusalem, and to Hillary Clinton they have announced plans of 50,000 new units," said Hamdan, referring to Israel's plans to build 50,000 more housing units in East Jerusalem. As for the proposed peace talks Hamdan asked: "What's the point?"
Obama's priorities
This may be the worst period in relations between traditionally strong allies US and Israel, but neither Hamas nor Fatah appear to have any solutions to the divisions in the Palestinian leadership.
What they can agree on is that President Obama´s administration seems unable to extract from Netanyahu any concessions that would help restart the peace process.
"Mr Obama has too many things on his plate," said Fatah's Nabil Shaath. "Number one is his domestic programme of health care reform, the financial situation and unemployment. He's already threatened with the loss of his majority in November's elections and is therefore not willing to risk losing Jewish votes."
"Number two is Iran, then it's getting US soldiers out of Iraq and Afghanistan, then protecting Pakistan which has a nuclear arsenal. We come number five or six."
Author: Annasofie Flamand (Doha)
Editor: Rob Mudge