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Last update - 09:33 31/08/2007
Persuade the people
By Danny Rubinstein
Tags: Summit, Mahmoud Abbas

Preparations for the regional conference are ostensibly advancing apace - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) are close to agreeing on a joint declaration of principles. But matters on the ground remain enervated as ever. In view of the existing reality in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, all the talk about declarations, conferences and principles isn't worth much. One only has to look at the headlines in the Arabic press in general and the Palestinian press in particular, which report daily on the dead and wounded, on incidents they term massacres or cold-blooded murder, and add to these the reports by the women from Machsom Watch recounting acts of abuse and humiliation - to understand that the gap between talk and action is immense.

The present preoccupation with the itemized list of principles - temporary borders, Jerusalem neighborhoods, passage to Gaza, the so-called "sacred basin" (including the Mount of Olives and the Silwan neighborhood), the settlement blocs and return of refugees - now increasingly resembles flipping through the worn pages of an old book. In the years since the Oslo accords, the parties' representatives have gone over these matters time and again, ad nauseam. Seven years ago the bloody events of the Al-Aqsa Intifada erupted, and in the meantime Arafat has died of his ailment or was assassinated, the construction of the separation fences and walls has nearly been completed, and a Hamas regime has arisen in Gaza, which refuses to compromise, splitting the Palestinian homeland in two. Against this backdrop, the documents from Camp David 2000, along with the Taba accord and the Clinton plan, look like ancient scrolls that may be useful to historians, but not to statesmen dealing with the present.

These claims were confirmed last weekend in a public opinion poll published by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center, whose director, Ghassan Khatib, served as minister of planning in the Palestinian government. Ever since Palestinian polls erred in conjecturing the results of the parliamentary elections and failed to predict Hamas' dramatic victory, there has been a tendency to question the credibility of these surveys. Yet, in this case, some of the poll's findings cannot be doubted. The most striking one is that almost 94 percent of Palestinians object to any form of Israeli control over the Al-Aqsa compound - neither above nor below. Another interesting finding is that 82 percent of those polled are not willing to allow settlement blocs to remain under Israeli control. And most important of all: Close to 70 percent support the return of all refugees to their homeland (i.e., within the confines of the State of Israel), and they reject notions of compensation, a partial return of refugees, or the right to return only to a Palestinian state.
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When you compare these data, and similar findings, with polls conducted in the past, it becomes clear that the Palestinian public's opinions have become more extreme. The fact that the peace process has failed, that we are mired in crises accompanied by constant bloodshed, and that the plight of the Palestinians is worsening, has not made the Palestinian public more moderate, but rather the opposite.

The conclusion is that the problem lies not with the Palestinian politicians, but with the general public. In other words, you can pressure Abu Mazen and his associates, and persuade them to make concessions and compromise, but it won't advance a thing. What you have to do is persuade the people, and that can only be done through the economy.

Two weeks ago, I went with friends to visit the mayor of Hebron, Khaled Osaily. He spoke about the trouble of supplying electricity and water, and especially about the city's growing unemployment. Hebron used to be an important center for shoe manufacturing, for Israel and overseas, but now the cheap Chinese wares have ruined everything. According to Osaily, the Israeli defense establishment will soon finish building the fences and the facilities for the cargo terminal at Tarkumiya, and then a death knell will sound for the Hebron hills, because the number of trucks that will pass through the terminal every day will be greatly reduced.

Osaily practically begs that more transit permits be granted for laborers to work in Israel. He says that if this is not done, Hebron will become a second Gaza. In other words, so long as Israel keeps raising the separation wall and the Palestinians keep getting poorer - all the debates about principles for a peace agreement are pretty worthless.
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  1.   DANNY LOOKS SO SURPRISED 09:58  |  indrajaya 31/08/07
  2.   Israeli appeasement makes no difference 10:14  |  Sam 31/08/07
  3.   COmmon knowledge to everybody except the"Intelligencia"/Islamist 10:16  |  PETER.SM 31/08/07
  4.   Economy will not help either 10:22  |  Shlomo from Tel Aviv 31/08/07
  5.   NO FUTURE 10:22  |  indrajaya 31/08/07
  6.   It is Arab policy fault 10:33  |  CM 31/08/07
  7.   they need to get their act together 10:38  |  Daniel 31/08/07
  8.   DANNY LOOKS SO SURPRISED 10:48  |  indrajaya 31/08/07
  9.   Rats on treadmills 11:09  |  Natallie Durson 31/08/07
  10.   neither Palestinians nor other Arabs want peace 11:22  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 31/08/07
  11.   Marxists to the bitter end 11:25  |  mg 31/08/07
  12.   Hey indrajaya, you terrorist-loving, dishonest scumbag 11:30  |  John Ryan 31/08/07
  13.   to Dany 11:38  |  indrajaya 31/08/07
  14.   East Timor 11:40  |  Maria do Rosario 31/08/07
  15.   Palestinian Markets 11:47  |  tony 31/08/07
  16.   Maybe Haaretz should invite them to one of their Sushi parties? 12:07  |  Andreas 31/08/07
  17.   The fundamentals for an accomodation of peaceful coexistence: 12:17  |  Yaniv 31/08/07
  18.   ... and it`s all their fault of course 12:19  |  Murray 31/08/07
  19.   Political immaturity 12:38  |  MarkC 31/08/07
  20.   It`s NOT The Economy, Stupid 12:43  |  Ben Israel 31/08/07
  21.   Very amusing 12:58  |  Axel 31/08/07
  22.   to MARIA DO ROSARIO 13:01  |  indrajaya 31/08/07
  23.   To Dani Rubinshtein 13:02  |  CM 31/08/07
  24.   MARIA IS RIGHT 13:02  |  Marco Sergio 31/08/07
  25.   Their only desire: the destruction of Israël 13:03  |  maurice 31/08/07
  26.   #9 natallie in la la land as usual 13:05  |  victor hardman 31/08/07
  27.   Natallie Durson, I suggest you and Yaniv get together and figure 13:15  |  Roberta 31/08/07
  28.   There is never going to be peace until 13:16  |  ILSupporter 31/08/07
  29.   Shlomo from Tel-Aviv, you are very right. With each stage of 13:21  |  Roberta 31/08/07
  30.   The entire "peace process" needs to focus on ONE item -- 13:36  |  Dr. L. Brnd 31/08/07
  31.   #20 - Ben Israel is completely right 13:39  |  Irene Heynemann 31/08/07
  32.   There was no peace process since abbas signed for the PLO the 13:45  |  lakshmi 31/08/07
  33.   #20, Ben Israel, easy for the well-fed to say 13:52  |  newageblues 31/08/07
  34.   #10 Cipora Juliana Kohn 14:11  |  Labhras 31/08/07
  35.   We cannot be bought with fancy toilets 14:44  |  Amin Nusseibeh 31/08/07
  36.   We cannot be bought with fancy toilets 14:44  |  Amin Nusseibeh 31/08/07
  37.   "They (Arabs) were never serious about peace" 14:54  |  Sam 31/08/07
  38.   Article made sense into phony conclusion about the economy 15:12  |  McQueen 31/08/07
  39.   #26 exactly right. NO to bogus right of return 15:15  |  McQueen 31/08/07
  40.   For Dr L.Brnd # 26 15:27  |  Clickfool 31/08/07
  41.   For Natallie Durson # 9 15:42  |  Clickfool 31/08/07
  42.   18 MURRAY oh NO-It is all "the Jews" fault, RIGHT? 16:02  |  JON FEIGENBAUM 31/08/07
  43.   30Amin Nusseibeh,agreed & the rot started with the signing of 16:11  |  lakshmi 31/08/07
  44.   25 It is NOT a "MISSED OPPORTUNITY" 16:14  |  JON FEIGENBAUM 31/08/07
  45.   #34CLIKKY AND THE IRANIAN DREAM 16:25  |  PAUL HARRIS 31/08/07
  46.   SAM 31 16:26  |  JON FEIGENBAUM 31/08/07
  47.   Amin Nusseibeh, yours is the clasic illustration for the lack of 16:35  |  Avihu 31/08/07
  48.   30 KEEP MAKING WAR AND GETTING NOTHING 16:45  |  JON FEIGENBAUM 31/08/07
  49.   Amin #30 17:22  |  Polybios 31/08/07
  50.   Right of Return in 2048 17:28  |  dyinglikeflies 31/08/07
  51.   Jon Feigenbaum- Hopefully, Arab sense will prevail 17:43  |  Sam 31/08/07
  52.   Amin 18:03  |  Danite 31/08/07
  53.   No peace because of Arab stubborness... 18:11  |  Steven 31/08/07
  54.   #30 Amin 18:15  |  Liz 31/08/07
  55.   Palestinians don`t want peace, no one to talk to. 18:16  |  Avi 31/08/07
  56.   #34 Clickfool 18:21  |  Steven 31/08/07
  57.   Bravo that man Rubenstein 18:30  |  Rowan Berkeley 31/08/07
  58.   DANNY SHOOTS HIS MOUTH OFF 18:46  |  PAUL HARRIS 31/08/07
  59.   Danny, correct assesment, - wrong approach to resolution.... 18:53  |  Misha 31/08/07
  60.   # Poor, Fatmah, you seems disparete... 19:08  |  Misha 31/08/07
  61.   "Palestinians" hold extreme views BECAUSE of peace talks. 19:11  |  Chaim 31/08/07
  62.   No surprise from a culture that abhors life 19:37  |  Ron 31/08/07
  63.   Dany, May you be able to explain 19:50  |  Za`atar 31/08/07
  64.   #30 Amin Nusseibeh willing to "suffer" - while living in London 20:01  |  Jak 31/08/07
  65.   Draw the conclusions for Israel`s Gaza policy 20:02  |  Tosefta 31/08/07
  66.   Clickfool #34 - When the Caliphate of Sussex is established... 20:05  |  Dr. L. Brnd 31/08/07
  67.   persuade the people 20:51  |  joel armstrong 31/08/07
  68.   What country isn`t affected by China? Pals need to find new 21:11  |  Jason 31/08/07
  69.   #53 Chaim 21:18  |  cocha 31/08/07
  70.   hey John Ryan 21:19  |  Leor