GA/PAL/730
NGO/275

RECENT POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS, KEY ISSUES OF JUST AND COMPREHENSIVE SETTLEMENT FOCUS OF DISCUSSION AT SYMPOSIUM ON PALESTINE

Making formal statements on the evolving political situation were Mohamed Hamroush, President of the Egyptian Committee for Solidarity, and Michael Hindley, representative of the Socialist Party of the United Kingdom and a member of the European Parliament. Discussion afterward touched on matters of promotion of democracy in Palestinian-administered regions and on concerns over reported human-rights violations by the Palestinian Authority; on the extent of the role of the United States in the peace process; and on what one NGO representative termed "peace based on international legitimacy," rather than merely on "unilateral interpretations" by Israel of recent Middle East peace accords.

Among the experts addressing the topic of "key issues of a just and comprehensive settlement" was Sharif S. Elmusa, Senior Research Fellow of the Institute for Palestine Studies, Washington, D.C., who reviewed the status of land and water resources in the Israeli-occupied territories and warned that after religious, security and hydrologists' concerns were taken into account, Israel's territorial concessions to the Palestinians might leave a West Bank fragment that was "tattered, insecure and dry".

Also addressing the meeting were Zahaba Galon, founding member of B'Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories; Geoffrey Aronson, of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, Washington, D.C.; Jan de Jong, Geographer and Planning Consultant at St. Yves Legal Resource and Development Centre, Jerusalem; and Leonard Hausman, Director of the Institute for Social and Economic Policy in the Middle East, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, United States.

Statements

MOHAMED HAMROUSH, President of the Egyptian Committee for Solidarity, said the question of a just and lasting peace in the region was not an easy one -- struggle, patience and wisdom were required. Much progress had been made in recent years, and many hopes had been raised; now the recent elections of Benyamin Netanyahu had threatened further progress. The difficulties, in fact, had begun earlier, with the extremist element in Israel, which was responsible for the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The Likud Party had come to power; it had been a surprise, but reaction had been rapid and clear. The Arab world quickly had held a summit of inter-Arab solidarity in Cairo that had avoided adopting emotional positions and made a point of stressing its strategic choice of peace. The summit also did not take further steps without true cooperation from the new Israeli Government; in a sense, a door had been closed. Israel had lost the image of a country calling for peace. The Arab countries, however, continued to press for peace, as had the European countries, on the basis of the principles agreed on over the last five years.

MICHAEL HINDLEY, Socialist Party, United Kingdom, and Member of the European Parliament, said any hope for saving the world, or in this case, Palestine, must be based on the process of democracy -- a subject sometimes forgotten when the Middle East was discussed. He reviewed relations between the European Union and Israel, between the European Union and Palestine, including descriptions of humanitarian, diplomatic and economic aid, and recounted the peace process from the Gulf War through the Oslo accord, the Barcelona conference, and more recent events. He said a proposed agreement between the European Commission and the Palestinian Authority was aimed at enabling integration of the Palestinians as full-fledged partners in the Euro-Mediterranean area launched by the Barcelona declaration signed in November 1995; and at taking into account the special legal status of the Palestinian Authorities. In a joint statement, the European leaders had appealed to Israel and its Arab neighbours to resume peace negotiations on the whole range of disputes, including Jerusalem.

SHARIF S. ELMUSA, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Palestinian Studies, Washington, D.C., reviewed the role of land and water in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and negotiations. Water had patterned and sustained the process of Jewish settlement in Palestine for decades, he said, and thus provided a new angle from which to view the still-ongoing process of transformation of Palestine into an ever-expanding Jewish State. On a more immediate level, it allowed for bringing into the discussion the water issue, not just between Israelis and Palestinians but also between the Israelis and the Syrians; water was one of the main issues slated for resolution in the final status talks between the Israelis and Palestinians. Currently, water

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use by Israelis was heavy and growing -- settlements in the Jordan Valley alone, whose Jewish population numbered only a few thousand, used about one third of the amount of water allocated for the more than 1 million Palestinians in the West Bank; Israel in fact had imposed stringent restrictions on Palestinian access to water resources. There was a worry that after religious, security and hydrologists' concerns were taken into account, Israel's territorial concessions to the Palestinians might leave a West Bank fragment that was tattered, insecure and dry.

ZAHABA GALON, Secretary-General of Ratz, founding member of B'Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, speaking on "the danger of settlements to the peace process", said Israeli settlements in the occupied territories had always been a major obstacle to peace; they symbolized the worst of the expansion policy of Israel, deprived the Palestinians of actualizing their right to constitute a sovereign state in their land and of conducting their lives without intervention; they also inhibited any possibility of co-existence between the two peoples. She reviewed the history of the settlement process and concluded that despite the situation she was optimistic; she thought that the Palestinian State would be constituted, the settlements evacuated, and if Israeli settlers wanted to stay and abide under the Palestinian Government, let them do so and enjoy it. But the struggle against the settlements was the only hope that all in the region and their children would one day live peacefully.

GEOFFREY ARONSON, of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, Washington, D.C., said that Israel had a new ruling party, a new government and a new prime minister; each of these changes was important enough in itself, but together they inaugurated what in many respects would be a new and entirely different chapter in Israeli history. He reviewed the political history and political beliefs of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, noting that Netanyahu believed "in a not-too-subtle demonstration of Israeli power in its relations with the leadership of Israel's Arab neighbours -- particularly Syria and the Palestinians".

The Palestinian Authority, rather than the Palestinian population in the Gaza and the West Bank, he said, was more likely to be the address for an Israeli response to continuing security/terror incidents -- that meant a probable lessening of collective punishments such as the closure of the territories, replaced by more specific discreet actions directed against the Arafat regime. The question that needed to be asked now was what kind of peace could be established without removing the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. The current Israeli Government was not interested in addressing this question, nor was it concerned about engaging the Palestinian Authority in an effort to reconcile its objectives with the iron law of continuing settlement.

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JAN DE JONG, Geographer and Planning Consultant, St. Yves Legal Resource and Development Centre, Jerusalem, gave an audiovisual presentation indicating, through maps, how the areas of Arab and Israeli sovereignty in the Palestine region were established, beginning with 1967; and continuing into the future if current settlement patterns and plans for expanding area under Palestinian authority were carried out, or if alternative schemes were followed.

Mr. de Jong said metropolitan development around Jerusalem was reviewed; and prospects for diversified economic growth discussed, as current, predominantly agricultural activities would not be capable of supporting Palestine's rapidly growing population. Proposed future metropolitan schemes for Jerusalem were detailed, showing Palestinian districts and anticipated Israeli sectors, and including economic zones intended to provide employment for Palestinians. The possible impact of water supplies also was displayed, along with the effects of previously planned bypass roads to Israeli settlements, if they were built.

LEONARD J. HAUSMAN, Director of the Institute for Social and Economic Policy in the Middle East, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, United States, said the University was trying to reach agreement through various sources on the Palestinian refugee situation, from its actual size -- figures now varied; to how many would return to an emerging State of Palestine, depending on economic opportunities; to the impact of possible Palestinian immigration rates, which would be based on growth of private-sector jobs.

Absorption of Jews from the former Soviet Union into Israel was providing a model for employment and immigration in a potential Palestine, Mr. Hausman said -- a lot had been learned from that process, which had gone quite smoothly. An important ingredient for resolving the Palestinian refugee problem was the return of Palestinian workers as commuters in the Israeli economy; how the new Government encouraged or discouraged the prospects for such foreign workers would play a major role, and currently the trend seemed to be to drive down the number of commuting Palestinian workers. He suspected the Israelis might change their minds about that policy -- it was better for the region as a whole to have such employment available to thousands who might otherwise be jobless.

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United Nations