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The Palestinian
Vision of Peace
By President Yasser Arafat
RAMALLAH - FEBRUARY 3 , 2002 - WAFA
- H.E President Yasser Arafat said that the Palestinian vision of peace based on
the complete end of the occupation and a return to Israel's 1967 borders, the
sharing of all Jerusalem as one open city and as the capital of two states,
Palestine and Israel.
'' We are ready to sit down now with any Israeli leader .... to negotiate
freedom for the Palestinians, a complete end of the occupation, security for
Israel and creative solutions to the plight of the refugees...'', H.E. wrote in
an editorial published Sunday in The New York Times.
The President condemn the attacks carried out by some groups against Israeli
civilians and said that these groups do not represent the Palestinian people or
their legitimate aspirations for freedom.
Below is the full text of the editorial:
The Palestinian
Vision of Peace
By YASSER ARAFAT
RAMALLAH - For the past 16 months, Israelis and Palestinians have been locked in
a catastrophic cycle of violence, a cycle which only promises more bloodshed and
fear. The cycle has led many to conclude that peace is impossible, a myth borne
out of ignorance of the Palestinian position. Now is the time for the
Palestinians to state clearly, and for the world to hear clearly, the
Palestinian vision.
But first, let me be very
clear. I condemn the attacks carried out by terrorist groups against Israeli
civilians. These groups do not represent the Palestinian people or their
legitimate aspirations for freedom. They are terrorist organizations, and I am
determined to put an end to their activities.
The Palestinian vision of
peace is an independent and viable Palestinian state on the territories occupied
by Israel in 1967, living as an equal neighbor alongside Israel with peace and
security for both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. In 1988, the Palestine
National Council adopted a historic resolution calling for the implementation of
applicable United Nations resolutions, particularly, Resolutions 242 and 338.
The Palestinians recognized Israel's right to exist on 78 percent of historical
Palestine with the understanding that we would be allowed to live in freedom on
the remaining 22 percent, which has been under Israeli occupation since 1967.
Our commitment to that two-state solution remains unchanged, but unfortunately,
also remains unreciprocated.
We seek true independence
and full sovereignty: the right to control our own airspace, water resources and
borders; to develop our own economy, to have normal commercial relations with
our neighbors, and to travel freely. In short, we seek only what the free world
now enjoys and only what Israel insists on for itself: the right to control our
own destiny and to take our place among free nations.
In addition, we seek a
fair and just solution to the plight of Palestinian refugees who for 54 years
have not been permitted to return to their homes. We understand Israel's
demographic concerns and understand that the right of return of Palestinian
refugees, a right guaranteed under international law and United Nations
Resolution 194, must be implemented in a way that takes into account such
concerns. However, just as we Palestinians must be realistic with respect to
Israel's demographic desires, Israelis too must be realistic in understanding
that there can be no solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict if the
legitimate rights of these innocent civilians continue to be ignored. Left
unresolved, the refugee issue has the potential to undermine any permanent peace
agreement between Palestinians and Israelis. How is a Palestinian refugee to
understand that his or her right of return will not be honored but those of
Kosovar Albanians, Afghans and East Timorese have been?
There are those who claim
that I am not a partner in peace. In response, I say Israel's peace partner is,
and always has been, the Palestinian people. Peace is not a signed agreement
between individuals - it is reconciliation between peoples. Two peoples cannot
reconcile when one demands control over the other, when one refuses to treat the
other as a partner in peace, when one uses the logic of power rather than the
power of logic. Israel has yet to understand that it cannot have peace while
denying justice. As long as the occupation of Palestinian lands continues, as
long as Palestinians are denied freedom, then the path to the "peace of the
brave" that I embarked upon with my late partner Yitzhak Rabin, will be
littered with obstacles.
The Palestinian people
have been denied their freedom for far too long and are the only people in the
world still living under foreign occupation. How is it possible that the entire
world can tolerate this oppression, discrimination and humiliation? The 1993
Oslo Accord, signed on the White House lawn, promised the Palestinians freedom
by May 1999. Instead, since 1993, the Palestinian people have endured a doubling
of Israeli settlers, expansion of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian
land and increased restrictions on freedom of movement. How do I convince my
people that Israel is serious about peace while over the past decade Israel
intensified the colonization of Palestinian land from which it was ostensibly
negotiating a withdrawal?
But no degree of
oppression and no level of desperation can ever justify the killing of innocent
civilians. I condemn terrorism. I condemn the killing of innocent civilians,
whether they are Israeli, American or Palestinian; whether they are killed by
Palestinian extremists, Israeli settlers, or by the Israeli government. But
condemnations do not stop terrorism. To stop terrorism, we must understand that
terrorism is simply the symptom, not the disease.
The personal attacks on me
currently in vogue may be highly effective in giving Israelis an excuse to
ignore their own role in creating the current situation. But these attacks do
little to move the peace process forward and, in fact, are not designed to. Many
believe that Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, given his opposition to
every peace treaty Israel has ever signed, is fanning the flames of unrest in an
effort to delay indefinitely a return to negotiations. Regrettably, he has done
little to prove them wrong. Israeli government practices of settlement
construction, home demolitions, political assassinations, closures and shameful
silence in the face of Israeli settler violence and other daily humiliations are
clearly not aimed at calming the situation.
The Palestinians have a
vision of peace: it is a peace based on the complete end of the occupation and a
return to Israel's 1967 borders, the sharing of all Jerusalem as one open city
and as the capital of two states, Palestine and Israel. It is a warm peace
between two equals enjoying mutually beneficial economic and social cooperation.
Despite the brutal repression of Palestinians over the last four decades, I
believe when Israel sees Palestinians as equals, and not as a subjugated people
upon whom it can impose its will, such a vision can come true. Indeed it must.
Palestinians are ready to
end the conflict. We are ready to sit down now with any Israeli leader,
regardless of his history, to negotiate freedom for the Palestinians, a complete
end of the occupation, security for Israel and creative solutions to the plight
of the refugees while respecting Israel's demographic concerns. But we will only
sit down as equals, not as supplicants; as partners, not as subjects; as seekers
of a just and peaceful solution, not as a defeated nation grateful for whatever
scraps are thrown our way. For despite Israel's overwhelming military advantage,
we possess something even greater: the power of justice.
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