Intifada stirs as negotiations falter
By Sean Malloy
"It does not take much for any intelligent person, who visits the territories, to discover that life is still as sickening if not more so today than it was a few months ago. This leads people, who live this life, to despair and frustration, which obviously reflects negatively on the peace process. People were expecting a better life as a result of the peace talks. What they see instead is more of the same or worse", writes the Jerusalem Palestinian weekly Al Fajr.
In the occupied territories themselves a resurgence of the intifada has been sparked off by a hunger strike of 10,000 prisoners which began on September 27.
Renewed mass demonstrations have been taking place in the territories along with closer cooperation between various resistance organisations. Fateh, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hamas and the Palestinian Peoples Party (formerly the Palestinian Communist Party) have united in committees formed in the prisons to organise the hunger strike.
Israeli officials agreed to negotiate with representatives of the prisoners, and some immediate demands of the prisoners were met. The hunger strike has been suspended while negotiations take place concerning other demands.
There is considerably less progress at the Middle East peace conference in Washington, because of Israel's determination to hang on to the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel is proposing a Palestinian council that would administer Israel's occupation and interests in the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinians are negotiating for an end to the Israeli occupation and for self-determination.
Israel's delegation proposes that Palestinians be elected to administer laws while the Palestinian delegation calls for Palestinians to be elected to make laws.
Eliakim Rubinstein, chief Israeli negotiator, rejected any assembly in the occupied territories that "would have the attributes and symbols of an independent Palestinian state".
Spokesperson for the Palestinian delegation Dr Hanan Ashrawi said at the sixth round of talks that the Israelis "don't want us to start on the track of statehood, and we don't want them to
close the door to statehood".
She also noted that the original letter from the US government assuring Palestinian representatives that the negotiations' purpose would be to transfer real authority to Palestinians is not being put into practice.
Israeli proposals for Palestinian "autonomy" are a repeat of the "self-government" proposals presented during the 1978 Camp David negotiations. While those talks led to a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, negotiations between the two concerning the Palestinians dragged on and on and finally faded away.