Palestinians have no rights

David Warren's assertions regarding the Palestinians and their quest for an end to Israeli occupation and a state of their own border on the absurd.

He does not acknowledge that Palestinians have been living under Israeli occupation for 44 years, with no sign of ending. That occupation has been increasingly onerous, even brutal.

Annual human rights reports by the U.S. Department of State and human rights organizations (including from Israel) have documented Israeli violations of basic human rights.

Palestinians have no rights under Israeli military rule. Their lands are subject to confiscation in order to build settlements, which the international community has stated are illegal under international law. The International Court of Justice in The Hague reaffirmed the illegality in a ruling in 2004. Israel controls 60 per cent of the West Bank, where Palestinians cannot build housing or pursue economic development.

The World Bank and the IMF in numerous reports have given strong endorsement to the efforts of the Palestinian Authority to build credible and financially transparent state institutions that will eventually form the basis of a Palestinian state.

President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad are committed to nonviolence. Israel has no better partners for a peaceful resolution of their conflict, yet the current Israeli government has shown no interest in meaningful negotiations with the PLO.

It has been the judgment of the World Bank and the IMF that the primary obstacles to Palestinian economic development, investment and growth is not corruption by the Palestinians, but the Israeli regime of closure and restrictions on movement of people and goods. The Middle East Quartet, composed of senior representatives of the U.S., the UN, Russia and the EU, has endorsed these conclusions.

Security and the prevention of acts of violence against Israelis has been the result, not just of the actions of Israel, but especially of the efforts of the Palestinian Authority, with the assistance of the U.S. and the EU, to rebuild credible Palestinian security services. Israeli officials have acknowledged the importance of PA efforts to establish a secure security environment. Increasingly, these Palestinian security organizations are seen by Palestinians (and, ironically, by many Israelis) as facilitating continuing Israeli occupation.

There are credible economic statistics available for the Palestinian economy. These statistics, which the World Bank, the IMF and the international donor community rely on, are provided by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, a highly professional organization.

Edward Abington, U.S. Consul General, Jerusalem, 1993-1997, Consultant to the Palestinian Authority, 1999-2006


(2011-9-24/The Ottawa Citizen)