Latest opportunity for peace must not be lost
The initiative, originally launched at the Arab summit of 2002, calls for normalization of relations between the Arab states and Israel in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from all the territory it occupied in 1967. It also calls for an agreed, just solution to the Palestinian refugees issue in accordance with UN Resolution 194.
At their two-day summit in Riyadh last March, the Arab leaders called on Israel to accept their land-for-peace offer and open direct negotiations with the Arabs.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa read out the final statement of the summit, which said, "The Arabs confirm the choice of just and comprehensive peace as a strategic choice of the Arab nations." Who can question the sincerity of this initiative which seeks to end six decades of bloodshed, massacres, violence, statelessness, and disenfranchisement?
Is there any justification for rejecting this plan? Those who blindly support Israel must answer this question.
Yet, as usual, Israel has responded by saying it will not accept all parts of the plan. It has said it wants to retain some settlements in the West Bank and objected to the proposals to make East Beit-ul-Moqaddas (East Jerusalem) the Palestinian capital and to grant Palestinian refugees the right of return to their homeland.
This plan presented by Saudi Arabia has allowed Israel to clearly show the world whether it seeks justice-based peace or not.
If world leaders, especially the Middle East Quartet (the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia), who have welcomed this peace initiative really want peace in the Middle East, they should reassess their ties with Israel if it rejects the proposal.
Why is it that all wars and conflicts end after some years but the Palestinian wound is still bleeding after almost 60 years?
Is there any other reason for the protracted conflict other than Israel’s illegal and inhumane occupation of the Palestinians’ homeland and its refusal to withdraw from Syria’s Golan Heights and Lebanon’s Shebaa Farms?
The continued occupation and relentless suppression of Palestinians and similar acts committed against the Lebanese people have been a source of many calamities for the region and other parts of the world.
The motive behind 9/11 was to vent anger at the United States for its irrational support of Israel, although, unfortunately, the victims were people who played no part in Israel’s crimes and may even have been opposed to Israeli policy. Similarly, some elements are using Iraq as a battlefield to get even with the U.S. although the main victims are innocent Iraqi citizens.
The Palestinian people were robbed of their homeland in a devious neocolonialist plot. However, the Arab world has presented a realistic plan to end this interminable agony.
The Palestinian men, women, and children should at least be allowed to live in peace in the pre-1967 borders so the people of the region can breathe a sigh of relief.
Although Israel’s actions over the years have given the impression that it has no interest in a just peace, the world is still hoping for a positive response to the realistic Arab initiative.