hijab@cad.UUCP (Raif Hijab) (05/11/86)
> >> | Barry Shein > and > >> David Matthew Lyle > > Raif Hijab > >> |DEFUSE THE PALESTINIAN SITUATION BY CONSTRUCTIVE ACTION > >> Yes, I agree that would be the best thing, but..... > >> The PLO has long refused to recognize or negotiate with Isreal > > If the U.S. and Israel would agree to apply the principle of > > non-acquisition of land by war to the territories occupied by > > Israel in 1967, ........ Syria and Jordan, as well as the major > > PLO groups (including Arafat's Fatah and the Syrian-based > > Salvation Front) would be willing to enter into serious peace > >negotiations that would deal with a comprehensive settlement. > If I recall, the PLO has been excluded because they refuse agree that > Isreal has a right to exist. If they would accept that fact, then > things might have been worked out a long time ago. Israel has demanded *unilateral* recognition of its right to exist, without any promise of reciprocity toward the Palestinians. The U.S. has demanded that the PLO accept U.N. resolution 242. At the same time they will not acknowledge the Palestinians' right to self-determination and to a state of their own. Resolution 242 does not mention Palestine or Palestinians in *any* capacity. It addresses security of states and freedom of navigation. Why should the PLO accept it? As to Israel, it is perhaps the only nation in the world that *will not* state what it claims to be its legal boundary. If the PLO is to recognize Israel, then which Israel? Is it the Israel of the 1947 U.N. Partition Resolution? Is it the Israel of the 1948 Armistice Line? Or is it perhaps the Eretz Israel of Begin, Sharon et al? The international community has tried to break the deadlock. There has existed an 'international consensus' which calls for simultaneous mutual recognition by Israel and the PLO, which would be anchored in Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza and the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state there. This has been the position of the European community and Japan. It is supported by Third World and Soviet Bloc countries. It has been reiterated in numerous U.N. General Assembly resolutions. The PLO agrees to this formula. It is opposed by Israel and the U.S.