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New PA platform: Peace with Jerusalem as joint capital

JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jul. 27, 2007

For the first time in the history of the Palestinian Authority, the government does not mention in its proposed political platform the Arabic word mokawamah, meaning "resistance" or "armed struggle." Instead, the new guidelines adhere to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's call for "national opposition to the occupation," supporting the Arab peace initiative.

The new PA program presented by PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad on Friday includes the attainment of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement consisting of pre-1967 borders, Jerusalem as the capital of both states and the honoring of past agreements between the two.

The platform also calls for a just and agreed-upon resolution to the refugee problem on the basis of UN resolutions.

The proposal, which was presented to PA ministers, requires the approval of the PA parliament.

Government sources expressed cautious optimism over the omission of "armed struggle" from the new proposed guidelines. "It is an important declaration and a basis for continuing our cooperation with the PA government," Israel Radio quoted the sources as saying.

However, Jerusalem officials stressed that they had not actually received the guidelines in writing and would therefore not give an official response.

Hamas slammed the proposal and vowed that it would continue the armed struggle.

The group's spokesman in Gaza, Ayman Taha, told Israel Radio that "no decision can erase the resistance to the occupation."

Army Radio reported that Abbas and Fayad showed the new Palestinian document to Meretz Chairman Yossi Beilin during their meeting in Ramallah the previous day.

"It concerns peace with Israel and honoring past agreement with Israel," confirmed the Meretz chairman. Beilin went on to say that it was "peace as an ideology" as opposed to an agreement as a last resort.

Abbas told reporters on Thursday that he hoped for "a comprehensive peace with the Israelis within a year or even less than that." He also told the daily Ma'ariv that US President George W. Bush wished to broker a deal within a year. "I heard this with my own ears from the President himself and from Secretary of State [Condoleezza] Rice," he said.

The new proposed PA document also includes the government's declaration of its intention to restore PA rule to the Gaza Strip and extensively blames Hamas for "deviously and forcefully" taking over PA institutions.

According to the new proposed principles, Fayad's government would end the anarchy in the PA and prevent citizens from moving around openly with weapons in Palestinians cities. Only PA security forces would have the right to bear arms.

The new PA platform also includes clauses on improving the status of women in Palestinian society, enhancing Palestinian education, preserving the environment, strengthening democratic institutions, upholding human rights, ensuring religious tolerance and guaranteeing cultural and political pluralism. It also vows to battle corruption and fight against the use of religion to justify murder and destructive practices.

Also Friday, Fayad confirmed that security corporation with Israel had been restored, but stressed that "more effort is required." The PA prime minister told Israel Radio that corporation was essential to avoiding conflicts regarding IDF operations in the area of the PA security forces.

Meanwhile, Israel Radio quoted Abbas as saying Thursday that he would change the law regulating Palestinian elections in a manner that would weaken Hamas. The PA chairman explained that he would legislate basing the elections on a national ballot, as opposed to the current method of multiple regional ballots, a move which would supposedly erode Hamas's power.

Abbas went on to say that while he was not certain when elections would take place, Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would vote simultaneously.

The PA chairman would not divulge whether he would himself again be a candidate, even though he had told Beilin earlier this week that he had no intention of running again.

Also Friday, Vice Premier Haim Ramon said that Israel should withdraw from most of the West Bank in a deal with the Palestinians.

Ramon told Israel Radio that he supported a withdrawal from "most" of the West Bank, "except for large settlement blocs."

He suggested NATO forces could replace IDF troops in the areas evacuated. "In my eyes, the occupation of the territories threatens our very existence, our legitimacy and our international standing," Ramon said in the radio interview.

Ramon would not specify the scope of the proposed pullout, but said a plan floated by Prime Minster Ehud Olmert before his election in 2006 for a unilateral pullout from 90 percent of the West Bank was no longer a possibility, "certainly not in one step."

Ramon said Israel should try to arrive at an agreement with Abbas on the "principles of the final-status agreement, "since it was "the first time in seven years" that Israel had a partner on the Palestinian side.

Interior Minister Ze'ev Boim (Kadima) expressed bewilderment Ramon's remarks. Boim said that recently, much effort had been made to bolster Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian moderates but that Abbas and his colleagues did not have the tools to stop terrorist acts, which, Boim claimed, were prevented only due the operations of the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Service.)

"If we withdraw from the settlements, Hamas will raise its head," Israel Radio quoted the interior minister as saying.

On Thursday, Olmert's aides confirmed that the prime minister wanted to formulate a declaration detailing what a Palestinian state in Gaza and most of the West Bank would look like. However, they hinted that it would leave out the most difficult issues, such as final borders and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

New PA platform: Peace with Jerusalem as joint capital (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1185379018232&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter)