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Essay

PLO's Israel Position

Two-state solution still goal, Palestinian
negotiating adviser tells Detroit group.

Ramallah, West Bank

F

popular Palestinian political leader who
Israel convicted in 2004 and sentenced
to five life sentences for murder in con-
nection with terrorist attacks. Still, many
Palestinians surely must want lasting peace
with Israel and the better times that would
result.

ramed images of PLO icons Yasser
Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas hang
on a prominent wall in a large
meeting room at the Palestine Liberation
Organization's Negotiations Office in this
bustling, largely Muslim city of 50,000
people. Not far from the caravan route
PLO Leanings
our patriarch Abraham is believed to have
The PLO is the umbrella negotiating orga-
followed en route to Hebron, Ramallah
nization for Fatah, the Ramallah-based
is less than 10 miles north of
political group that tenuously
Jerusalem's Old City via the
eyes a unifying Palestinian
Qalandia Crossing.
state in the West Bank and
Here, up a few flights of
the Gaza Strip with the Arab-
stairs in a nondescript, but
dominated eastern sector of
well-kept office building, PLO
Jerusalem as its capital. The
negotiations spokesman Xavier
PLO recognized the State of
Abu Eid, a rising star among
Israel's right to exist in 1988,
Palestinian policy shapers,
before the 1990s Oslo Accords,
shared the PLO narrative, ever
but will never acknowledge it
careful to lay claim to statehood
as a Jewish state in deference
Robert Sklar
for the Palestinian people on 22
to the Israeli Arabs living there,
Contributing
percent of what he calls "his-
Eid insisted. The terrorist
Editor
toric Palestine" — the land of
organization Hamas, the other
the forbears of the Palestinian
main Palestinian political fac-
people. We Jews would call this same West
tion, rules Gaza and has never lived up to
Bank land and east Jerusalem part of Eretz
parameters of a unity pact it signed with
Yisrael, the biblical Land of Israel.
Fatah last year.
Eid, a churchgoing Christian, addressed
Eid, in his 30s, is from the West Bank
a Temple Israel of West Bloomfield delega-
town of Beit Jala. He said the PLO imag-
tion visiting Ramallah as part of an option-
ines two independent states, side by side,
al track during an Israel mission organized
with Israel over 78 percent of "historic
by ARZA World, a Reform movement tour
Palestine" and "Palestine" over the remain-
agency. Ramallah is the West Bank's larg-
der — separated by the border that existed
est, wealthiest, most westernized city with
before the Six-Day War of 1967.
a thriving nightlife and business sector
"If anyone has made any concessions, it
despite plenty of joblessness elsewhere.
was the PLO!' Eid told the Temple Israel
Eid said Israeli "intransigence" has
delegation on April 30. "That's what we
prompted the PLO to move to a new strat-
call our historic and painful compromise'
egy: "the internationalization of Palestine!'
Eid contends Israeli settlement growth
since the PLO recognized Israel 27 years
Communications adviser to the PLO
ago has complicated the two-state solu-
Negotiations Support Unit working under
chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, Eid is young,
tion. He calls settlements illegal and "a war
engaging, well-educated and articulate. In
crime' He favors "a negotiated agreement"
conversation, he's direct, but also respect-
based on "a common vision" — not some-
thing he envisions anytime soon.
ful. Of Chilean ancestry, he's the guy the
PLO calls when the Israeli office of Media
"For Palestinians, negotiations are a
Line, a Mideast news agency, seeks to bring peaceful tool to end the Israeli occupation
a small audience of Jewish or Christian
that began in 1967:' he said. "For Israel,
groups from America to hear about the
negotiations became a smokescreen to
Palestinians' search for statehood.
strengthen that colonization — and that's
My concern is that less-informed audi-
exactly what happened over 20 years since
ences will buy without challenge Eid's
the Oslo agreement:'
That's an alarming viewpoint given the
polished, but distorted take on the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict. Not surprisingly,
Palestinians have walked away not only
Eid defends the anti-Israel BDS (Boycott,
from repeated direct bilateral negotiations,
Divestment and Sanctions) movement. The but also near deals in 2000 with then-
mood of the neighborhood nearby likely
Prime Minister Ehud Barak and in 2008
with then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
echoes from a street mural urging Israel to
free Marwan Hasib Ibrahim Barghouti, the
The longer it takes to achieve statehood

28

June 25 • 2015

•

In the PLO Negotiations Office meeting room, Xavier Abu Eid addresses Temple Israel

mission-goers (including, to his right, Beth Sklar, Richard Kay and, background, Arthur
Kirsh) and Media Line Bureau Chief Linda Gradstein of Jerusalem (second from Eid's

right). "We are committed to achieving our rights through peaceful means," Eid said.

My concern is
that less-informed
udiences will buy
without challenge
Xavier Abu Eid's
polished, but distorted
take on the Israeli-
Palestinian c nflic

tion" (even as Hamas digs deeper attack
tunnels and churns out more rockets). Eid
did say Hamas must decide it if seeks to
be an active member of the Palestinian
Authority national movement or the
Palestinian branch of the notorious Muslim
Brotherhood. He also said Hamas hasn't
abided by all it agreed to as part of national
reconciliation, but he doesn't believe "we
have to declare war against llamas."
"We want a date for national elections,
and we hope Hamas is going to accept
elections soon!' said Eid, alluding to PLO
Chairman and Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas' 10 years in
power and Hamas' 10-year rule following
its 2005 election in Gaza. (Hamas violently
forced Fatah out of Gaza in a 2007 coup.)

and a secure peace, Palestinian ill will
toward Israel, "a foreign occupying power!'
will fester and drive the Palestinians even
more toward the international arena, Eid
said, clearly just blaming Israel.
He added: "What do we tell our people?
We say international law works. We say
nonviolence works. We say there's no need
to throw rockets against Israel in order
to gain our freedom. And that's why we
asked the world to recognize the 'State of
Palestine' under the 1967 border, not over
Israel. And that's why we entered 41 inter-
national human rights treaties that Israel
lobbied very hard for us not to be there:'

The strategy of internationalization as the
PLO stays laser focused on statehood is a
response to Israel's "impunity" in continu-
ing to "expropriate our land!' Eid said.
"Chairman Abbas once told then-Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 'Stop
talking about wiping Israel off the map.
Talk about adding Palestine to the map:
"That's what is needed now!' Eid said.
To that end, Eid said, the PLO wants the
international community to "assume its
responsibility" and "achieve two sovereign
states, Israel and Palestine, living side by

Hamas' Impact
Eid didn't directly acknowledge Hamas'
truce-breaking periodic rocket fire into
southern Israel, calling the Sunni Islamist
front for terror "part of the Palestinian
social fabric" — not "a terrorist organiza-

side:'
The State of Israel has a population of
more than 8 million, including at least
1.6 million Arabs. The projected "State of
Palestine" would have a population of more
than 4 million, including about 300,000
Arabs living in east Jerusalem.

New Tactic