Recognition of Israel could be in jeopardy- Fatah Official

Ramallah, Asharq Al-Awsat-Fatah Central Committee Member Muhammad Ishtiyah has hinted that the Palestinian Authority’s [PA] recognition of Israel could be in jeopardy.

Hinting on what the Palestinian Authority [PA] may do in case all the roads continue to be closed in face of the peace process, Ishtiyah said:  “If Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists not to distinguish between the settlement of Abu Ghunaym (near Bethlehem in the West Bank) and Tel Aviv, then we will not distinguish between Ramallah and Jaffa.”

Ishtayah’s statement indicates the possibility that the PA may abrogate the agreements signed with Israel, and this includes the exchange of recognition between Israel and the PLO, and this is one of the PA’s options that are under discussion.

Ishtayah told Asharq Al-Awsat:  “The recognition of Israel was not a balanced recognition because the PLO recognized Israel geographically, while Israel did not recognize Palestine geographically but as an establishment.  It only recognized the PLO, and now we ask Israel to make a reciprocal recognition.”  He explained that “we want Israel to recognize the Palestinian territories of 1967.”

Ishtayah’s statement is considered the first of its kind since no one of the Palestinian officials has given the hint of the possibility of withdrawing the recognition of Israel if it does not adjust its recognition of Palestine.

Asharq Al-Awsat has learned that Ishtayah’s statement in which he said that the PA would not distinguish between Ramallah and Jaffa has caused many vast reactions on the Israeli side and other international circles, which hurried to make contacts with other officials to inquire about the contents of the statements and their meanings.

Ishtayah’s statement has come at a time when the three month period set by the international Quartet to reach an agreement on the negotiations on the borders and security became close to end, which is due on 26 January.

Ishtayah said:  “Israel does not want this track (the negotiations) to go on.”  He added that “Israel wants the continuation of the status quo as it is.  It wants a distorted and closed negotiations track and the continuation of the escalation of the violence by the settlers and also the intensification of the settlement activities.”  He added:  “This will not be acceptable to us, and one of the ways to confront it would be through reorganizing the house in accordance with a national yardstick in which an agreement is reached on the goal and the tools for achieving this goal because one faction alone cannot go to war and cannot make peace.”

Ishtayah stressed that the Palestinian effort now would focus on the internal front, and said that “President Abbas is concerned a lot with the Palestinian unity in order to rebuild the Palestinian establishment in a way that serves the stage and that copes with the regional changes.”  He added that “our objectives now are to safeguard the internal front, rebuild the Palestinian establishment for work, and unify the geography and the national establishment through the PLO.”

Ishtayah reassured the Palestinians that the reconciliation efforts are going ahead and are serious, and there will be no return to the negotiations in the way Israel wants in spite of the vacuum expected next year.  He said:  “In 2012, we will be having a great political vacuum because the United States will be busy with the elections, Europe will be busy with the Euro crisis, and the Arabs will be busy with their spring, while Binyamin Netanyahu and his government do not want anything except continuing the imposition of the status quo policy.  Therefore, they think that we are going to accept the negotiations for the sake of negotiations, and this is something that is not going to happen.”

In addition to the reconciliation efforts that the PA leadership is currently focusing on, there are other tracks that it will resume after the end of the Quartet’s time limit.  Saeb Erekat, member of the PLO Executive Committee, said it is likely that the leadership would start a new diplomatic campaign after 26 January with the aim of securing the membership of Palestine in the rest of the international establishments after the success of the efforts to join the UNESCO.

Erekat, like Ishtiyah, expected that through its current practices and policies, Israel would abort the Quaret’s efforts to revive the peace process although the Palestinian side has exerted every possible effort to respond to the international committee and has submitted its visions concerning the issues of border and security.  He said that “one of the options presented after that is to resume the effort to obtain the membership of Palestine in various establishments.”

Palestine seeks to join various international organizations, including the World Trade Organization, which is something that Israel strongly opposes.  However, Erekat said that the PA will not allow the Israeli Government to continue its current strategy, which is based on imposing the status quo, the dictates, and the settlements, and keeping the situation as it is, pointing out that next year may witness Palestinian decisions that would be a sort of change and departure from what is ordinary to strike at this strategy.  He added:  “The leadership will not allow Netanyahu to continue his current policy of changing the job of the PA, which was established on the basis of a contracting agreement to shift our people from the occupation to independence, into an authority that has no contents and that has a limited economic and security role.”  He stressed that “the PA is the fruit of our people’s efforts and struggle, and we are not speaking about dissolving the PA, but it is impermissible to restrict its job to paying salaries and keeping security because it was established to build the state establishments in order to achieve real independence and permanent sovereignty.”