Palestijnen willen instituties in Oost-Jeruzalem heropenen

"The Palestinian Authority has demanded that Israel formally sanction a document in which it promises to permit Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem to continue to operate, the Shin Bet security service has told the government in recent days.
The Palestinian negotiators repeated their demand that Israel cease settlement construction and expansion, and that Israel withdraw to its positions prior to September 28, 2000, the day which marked the start of the Al-Aqsa intifada."

De Palestijnen hebben ook de Klaagmuur al opgeëist, en een onbeperkt recht op terugkeer van de vluchtelingen, en het vrijlaten van alle gevangenen. Abbas heeft ook aanspraak gemaakt op het zogenaamde 'niemandsland' van voor 1967, op de Joodse wijk in Oost-Jeruzalem, die in 1948 etnisch werd gezuiverd door het Jordanese leger, en op de Joodse begraafplaats op de Olijfberg. Het zijn de eisen van een overwinnaar die zijn voorwaarden kan opleggen. Toch gelooft iedereen dat de arme Abbas zo zwak is en Israël van alles moet doen om hem te versterken. Achter Abbas doemt het schrikbeeld op van Hamas.

Voordat Israël aan sommige van Abbas' eisen wat betreft Oost-Jeruzalem tegemoet kan komen, dient Abbas onomwonden Joodse rechten in Jeruzalem te erkennen. En voordat het Orient House zijn deuren weer kan openen, dient de VS zijn ambassade van Tel Aviv naar Jeruzalem te verplaatsen (het Orient House diende als een soort inofficiële ambassade voor de Palestijnen, waar men allerlei buitenlandse delegaties ontving).

 

Ratna

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Last update - 11:07 01/11/2007   
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/919372.html

Palestinians seek to renew institutional activities in E. J'lem

By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent

The Palestinian Authority has demanded that Israel formally sanction a document in which it promises to permit Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem to continue to operate, the Shin Bet security service has told the government in recent days.

The document, known as the "Peres letter," was appended to the Oslo II agreements of 1993.

The Shin Bet - which is presenting its analysis of the negotiating stance the Palestinians are expected to put forward at next month's Annapolis peace conference - has also warned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert against falling into the trap of declaring Israeli recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

The warning points especially to the fact that "East Jerusalem" is understood to encompass the Old City and the Western Wall, both.

Shin Bet analysts are weary of a Palestinian negotiating ploy in which Israel would be lured to agree in principle to recognize East Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian state, while delaying debate on the particular details of which side would maintain authority over religious sites.

President Shimon Peres, who served as foreign minister at the time of the signing of the Oslo Accords, had dispatched a letter to his Norwegian counterpart, Johan Jorgen Holst, stating Israel's recognition of the importance of Palestinian institutions in the city and its commitment to protect them.

Initially, Peres denied the existence of the letter after former PA Chairman Yasser Arafat revealed its contents. The intense public pressure which ensued from within the media and the political community eventually forced Peres to acknowledge the letter as fact.

The Palestinians are demanding that Israel allow the renewed activity of Palestinian institutions in east Jerusalem, chief among them Orient House, which was shut down in August 2001 in response to the Palestinian suicide bombing of the Sbarro pizzeria in the city.

The Palestinian demand is one of a series of measures in which Israel is expected to adopt so as to ease tensions on the ground, as is prescribed in the road map.

The first stage of the road map stipulates that Israel reopen the Palestinian Chamber of Commerce "and other closed Palestinian institutions in east Jerusalem... in accordance with prior agreements between the parties." The Palestinians were forbidden from undertaking government activities in east Jerusalem, and were required to preserve the status of these institutions as bodies of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Since 2001, Israel has balked at requests to allow these institutions to resume functioning. Indeed, Jerusalem has viewed the closure of these bodies as one of its significant achievements from the intifada period.

As one of its reservations in agreeing to the road map, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government stated that the Palestinian Authority's status in Jerusalem is a matter to be discussed as part of final status talks, not beforehand.

Livni, Qureia meet privately in Jerusalem
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Wednesday met privately in Jerusalem with the head of the Palestinian negotiating team, Ahmed Qureia, as part of ongoing bilateral talks in preparation for the upcoming U.S.-sponsored regional peace summit. No further details were given about the meeting.

Palestinian negotiators have insisted to their Israeli counterparts that they are meeting their requirements under the first phase of the road map, which include: consolidating their security apparatus; renouncing violence; and appointing a prime minister and a cabinet with executive powers separate from those of the Palestinian Authority chairman.

The Palestinians say they remain committed to prior agreements signed with Israel.

The Palestinian negotiators repeated their demand that Israel cease settlement construction and expansion, and that Israel withdraw to its positions prior to September 28, 2000, the day which marked the start of the Al-Aqsa intifada.