Palestine's Elusive Capital

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Dec. 3, 2009
All Rights Reserved.                    

        Finding a way to get Palestinians back to the peace table, a European Union draft recommended that East Jerusalem become the capital of a new Palestinian state.  Hoping to encourage Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to run for another term, the EU urged Israelis to stop all settlement activity in East Jerusalem and West Bank, prompting an angry response from the Israeli Foreign Ministry.  Headed by ultra-conservative Russian-born Avigor Lieberman, the Israeli Foreign Ministry opposes any concessions prior to a negotiated settlement.  Israelis annexed East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War [June 5-June 10], with coordinated attacks by Palestinians, Jordan, Egypt and Syria, supported by the governments of Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.  When the dust settled June 10, 1967, Israel had captured Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip, Jordan’s West Bank and Syria’s Golan Heights.

             Palestinians efforts since 1967 has focused on a long guerrilla war, led until his death Nov. 11, 2004 by Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat.  Arafat never realized his dream of returning Israel to Palestinian rule, eventually accepting former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s 1978 Camp David Accords that made peace with Egypt, returning the Sinai Peninsula.  Arafat’s on-again-off-again peace efforts eventually won him the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize.  Since the end of Six-Day War, Israel has recognized its spoils of war as its official borders, including the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and West Bank.  Ending Arafat’s long guerrilla war was based on Israel swapping land-for-peace.  Israel’s second concession, after returning the Sinai Peninsula in 1978, involved leaving the Gaza Strip Sept. 12, 2005.  Palestine’s Hamas faction never agreed to land-for-peace.

            When Hamas seized control of Gaza June 14, 2007, the Palestinian people, roughly 3-million inhabitants, were divided into two factions:  One controlled in Ramallah, West Bank by the Palestinaian Authority and the other controlled by Hamas in Gaza.  While the late Arafat negotiated deals on behalf of a unified Palestinian people, Arafat’s successor, Abbas, no longer has that luxury.  EU and U.S. officials have never accepted that Palestinians are divided in two distinct factions.  Today’s EU officials, hoping to jumpstart new peace efforts, can only negotiate with Abbas, who’s already signaled his intent to step down.  Gaza’s Hamas officials, represented by Ismail Haniyeh, have not agreed to any peace deals with Israel.  Proposing a new Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank with its capital East Jerusalem, the EU completely overlooks Hamas control over Gaza.

            Hamas’ government-in-exile in Damscus, Syria, led by radical Khaled Meshaal, rejects any peace negotiation with Israel.  So when the Israeli Foreign Ministry reacts to well-intentioned EU peace proposals, calling them a stumbling block to peace, the EU must try to understand Israel’s negotiating posture.  “The move led by Sweden damages the ability of the EU to take a role and be a significant factor in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians,” said the Israeli Foreign Ministry.  Abbas threatened to quit and stopped peace discussions in part related to Israel’s continued construction activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  Presenting a peace proposal to the Foreign Affairs, EU seeks to get Israel to withdraw to its pre-1967 borders.  Israel wants peace but not with preconditions, including current EU plans to give away territory seized during the 1967 Six-Day War.

            Before the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council recommends East Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital, they should figure out a way of uniting Hamas and the Palestinians Authority.  All the flowery promises mean nothing without ending irreconcilable differences between the two warring factions.  “The Council [of the EU] also reiterates its commitment to support further efforts and steps towards Palestinian statehood and to be able, at the appropriate time, to recognize a Palestinian state,” responding to recent reports that the Palestinians would declare statehood, seeking U.N. approval.  Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas can’t have it both ways:  Threatening to resign and, at the same time, pushing Israel to make more concessions.  EU’s FAC has implored Israel to halt all construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem without pushing Hamas and Fatah to reconcile.

            Calling Israel’s settlements, separation barrier and demolition of Palestinian homes “illegal under international law, constitute an obstacle to peace and threaten make a two-state solution impossible,” the EU has ignored the more salient obstacle to a Palestinian state:  Palestinians’ current civil war.  Blaming Israel’s long-running blockade on Gaza as “unacceptable” and “politically counterproductive,” the EU must also accept reality that Hamas remains at war with the Jewish State.  As long as Hamas and Fatah remain divided, there’s no chance of negotiating a peace deal with half the Palestinian people.  If Abbas can form a unity government with Hamas, it’s possible to back to the table and win more concessions from the Israeli government.  Israel won’t make too many more concessions until Palestinians resolve their civil war and return to the bargaining table without preconditions.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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