OccupationalHazard.org 06.17.02

The Occupation - 06/17/02

Reaping strategic mistakes

an interview with Hasan Asfour - www.bitterlemons.org

bitterlemons.org: From your experience, what have been the strong and weak points in the negotiating process?
Asfour: First of all, when you look at the negotiations on the Israeli side, they are all dependent on who makes the understandings. The Palestinians have not changed their strategy, but from the Israeli side, we have seen many strategies.
From the beginning, when we prepared for the Oslo talks, we put the core of our effort on ending the occupation over the territories of 1967 and how to establish our national state with rights for refugees, according to [United Nations Resolution] 194. I think that all the faults of the Oslo agreement are very clear now. Its base is very clear--how to end the occupation gradually. You will find that in the agreement itself, the West Bank and Gaza Strip are one territorial unit. The base [of the agreement] was that this is Palestinian territory, and that the talks would put an end to the occupation. In the peace process negotiations, we spoke about "Gaza and Jericho first" and we discussed an interim agreement for the West Bank. In the West Bank, we set a gradual redeployment with three phases after the first redeployment, and we began this. It was after this that the Israelis began to challenge this concept.
About Jerusalem, which was a difficult issue alongside the refugees, we agreed that Jerusalem was to be part of these talks. Beyond that, we discussed the Palestinians in Jerusalem, that they were a part of the Palestinian people, and that they would participate in the Legislative Council and in elections. We got that.
bitterlemons.org: Was there a basic strategy that you used?
Asfour: Our strategy was to use the interim solution to continue towards the final. This was the clearest point of our strategy. Towards that, we got the Israelis to agree that the territories were based on [United Nations Resolution] 242, meaning that historical Palestine would be divided into two states--a Palestinian state of the West Bank and Gaza, including East Jerusalem, and the Israeli state on the other part of historical Palestine.
During this time, the Israelis started to focus on "peace and security." We succeeded in some areas of security and we failed in others. In the beginning, they [the Israeli side] changed some strategic elements and the concepts of Oslo gradually. In the Gaza-Jericho agreement, they asked about some issues that were new obstacles. It was a big mistake for the Palestinian side to agreed to some of these elements, for example, when they agreed that the international passages in Rafah and Jericho would be considered military installation areas. This was then used to put up many obstacles opposing the movement of Palestinians and to concentrate on security, not political, concepts.
The other element that gave them new ways of concentrating the occupation, rather than moving to end the occupation, was when a zone was created around the settlements, especially in the Gaza settlements. This zone was used not for security, but to expand settlement activities and make Palestinian movement more difficult around this area.
Further, they used the three lateral roads to put new obstacles inside Gaza itself. Later, we saw that practically the Israelis can cut Gaza in three or four areas using the settlements, the roads and the beach of the Gaza Strip.
bitterlemons.org: How did this affect the outcome of the talks?
Asfour: The Israelis were not looking for peace, they wanted to use security as a solution. This became more apparent when we came to the interim agreement for the West Bank and they asked and succeeded in changing the concept of the Declaration of Principles to divide the West Bank into A, B, and C, the populated and unpopulated areas. This was the first stone to break the [back of the] Oslo agreement and give the Israelis the upper hand in controlling the agreement itself. In my mind, it was a strategic mistake for the Palestinian side to agree. They then became locked in a policy dependent on intentions. And we paid the price.
What has happened now is that they have used all of this against us, especially when the Likud came to power. Maybe with the Labor Party, we could have continued after this strategic mistake. But when you have the Likud party, which is already against Oslo itself, this strategic mistake was used against the Palestinians and against the peace process. They put up obstacles and opened the road for settlement activities.
This was when Palestinians lost hope. It started with the coming of Benjamin Netanyahu, and the changing of the concept of the relationship itself. Instead of having peace, we had to protect what we had gotten.
bitterlemons.org: How can things progress?
Asfour: At this time, with Sharon, I think it is very difficult, unless the international community wants to close the file. In spite of all that happened with [former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud] Barak and all of his stupidity, at Taba we built for the future. We have the paper that was published by Miguel Moratinos, the understandings of Taba that outlined more than 90 percent of the issues and opened the road to closing the file.
I think we are very close to closing it--and very far from closing it. We have documents to close the file, but we don't have a partner to close the file. Instead of using the paper to close the file, the Israeli side is using tanks to close it. This strategy puts the people under pressure. The Palestinian people want to protect themselves against Israeli aggression and the Israelis feel that the Palestinian intifada will continue. Despite what is on the paper, they don't even look at it. As I told you, if there are no real international efforts, we will live in the mentality of war.-Published 17/6/02(c)bitterlemons.org
Hasan Asfour has served as a member of the Palestinian negotiating team and Palestinian Authority minister of non-governmental organizations.

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Reaping strategic mistakes
an interview with Hasan Asfour - www.bitterlemons.org





bitterlemons.org: From your experience, what have been the strong and weak points in the negotiating process? Asfour: First of all, when you look at the negotiations on the Israeli side, they are all dependent on who makes the understandings. The Palestinians have not changed their strategy, but from the Israeli side, we have seen many strategies. From the beginning, when we prepared for the Oslo talks, we put the core of our effort on ending the occupation over the territories of 1967 and how to establish our national state with rights for refugees, according to [United Nations Resolution] 194. I think that all the faults of the Oslo agreement are very clear now. Its base is very clear--how to end the occupation gradually. You will find that in the agreement itself, the West Bank and Gaza Strip are one territorial unit. The base [of the agreement] was that this is Palestinian territory, and that the talks would put an end to the occupation. In the peace process negotiations, we spoke about "Gaza and Jericho first" and we discussed an interim agreement for the West Bank. In the West Bank, we set a gradual redeployment with three phases after the first redeployment, and we began this. It was after this that the Israelis began to challenge this concept. About Jerusalem, which was a difficult issue alongside the refugees, we agreed that Jerusalem was to be part of these talks. Beyond that, we discussed the Palestinians in Jerusalem, that they were a part of the Palestinian people, and that they would participate in the Legislative Council and in elections. We got that. bitterlemons.org: Was there a basic strategy that you used? Asfour: Our strategy was to use the interim solution to continue towards the final. This was the clearest point of our strategy. Towards that, we got the Israelis to agree that the territories were based on [United Nations Resolution] 242, meaning that historical Palestine would be divided into two states--a Palestinian state of the West Bank and Gaza, including East Jerusalem, and the Israeli state on the other part of historical Palestine. During this time, the Israelis started to focus on "peace and security." We succeeded in some areas of security and we failed in others. In the beginning, they [the Israeli side] changed some strategic elements and the concepts of Oslo gradually. In the Gaza-Jericho agreement, they asked about some issues that were new obstacles. It was a big mistake for the Palestinian side to agreed to some of these elements, for example, when they agreed that the international passages in Rafah and Jericho would be considered military installation areas. This was then used to put up many obstacles opposing the movement of Palestinians and to concentrate on security, not political, concepts. The other element that gave them new ways of concentrating the occupation, rather than moving to end the occupation, was when a zone was created around the settlements, especially in the Gaza settlements. This zone was used not for security, but to expand settlement activities and make Palestinian movement more difficult around this area. Further, they used the three lateral roads to put new obstacles inside Gaza itself. Later, we saw that practically the Israelis can cut Gaza in three or four areas using the settlements, the roads and the beach of the Gaza Strip. bitterlemons.org: How did this affect the outcome of the talks? Asfour: The Israelis were not looking for peace, they wanted to use security as a solution. This became more apparent when we came to the interim agreement for the West Bank and they asked and succeeded in changing the concept of the Declaration of Principles to divide the West Bank into A, B, and C, the populated and unpopulated areas. This was the first stone to break the [back of the] Oslo agreement and give the Israelis the upper hand in controlling the agreement itself. In my mind, it was a strategic mistake for the Palestinian side to agree. They then became locked in a policy dependent on intentions. And we paid the price. What has happened now is that they have used all of this against us, especially when the Likud came to power. Maybe with the Labor Party, we could have continued after this strategic mistake. But when you have the Likud party, which is already against Oslo itself, this strategic mistake was used against the Palestinians and against the peace process. They put up obstacles and opened the road for settlement activities. This was when Palestinians lost hope. It started with the coming of Benjamin Netanyahu, and the changing of the concept of the relationship itself. Instead of having peace, we had to protect what we had gotten. bitterlemons.org: How can things progress? Asfour: At this time, with Sharon, I think it is very difficult, unless the international community wants to close the file. In spite of all that happened with [former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud] Barak and all of his stupidity, at Taba we built for the future. We have the paper that was published by Miguel Moratinos, the understandings of Taba that outlined more than 90 percent of the issues and opened the road to closing the file. I think we are very close to closing it--and very far from closing it. We have documents to close the file, but we don't have a partner to close the file. Instead of using the paper to close the file, the Israeli side is using tanks to close it. This strategy puts the people under pressure. The Palestinian people want to protect themselves against Israeli aggression and the Israelis feel that the Palestinian intifada will continue. Despite what is on the paper, they don't even look at it. As I told you, if there are no real international efforts, we will live in the mentality of war.-Published 17/6/02(c)bitterlemons.org Hasan Asfour has served as a member of the Palestinian negotiating team and Palestinian Authority minister of non-governmental organizations.
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