Arab will for a two-state solution for Palestine is growing stronger

What Arabic-language writers say about the Paris talks

Many Arab journalists considered the Mideast peace conference in Paris as an expression of the Arab will to reach a compromise between Israel and Palestine. Bertrand Guay / Pool Photo via AP Photo

Representatives from 70 nations gathered in Paris on Sunday in an attempt to revive the peace process between Israel and Palestine.

Arabic-language commentator Mohammed Abu Al Fadl saw it as yet another expression of the Arab will to reach a compromise between Israel and Palestine.

"The very presence of representatives of 70 countries is a telling indicator that the Palestinian cause is not dead – contrary to what some are saying or hoping for," Abu Al Fadl wrote in the pan-Arab daily newspaper Al-Arab.

The writer said that the two-state solution called for at the conference is linked to the kind of compromises needed to settle some of the region’s other crises.

For instance, he argued, it will be hard to resolve the relatively recent Syrian conflict in the presence of an ongoing, decades-long crisis.

“When serious negotiations are launched in Syria, the Palestinian cause should be brought up – even symbolically – as this will help to materially build on it in the presence of an Arab will,” he said.

According to the writer, such a will is present now, and Arabs are more enthusiastic and less sensitive than ever about a two-state solution.

“Before, the subject used to cause discord among Arabs, but it is currently garnering great approval and support,” he wrote.

“On the other hand, international acceptance of this path might help to overcome Israel’s strong reluctance when negotiations are put into effect.”

Writing in the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, Palestinian columnist Majid Kayali said that the Palestinian leadership had been stepping up its efforts lately to put their cause back on top of the international agenda.

Kayali attributed these efforts to the fact that the leadership was now aware of its critical situation in light of the changing international, regional and Arab climate, and the more pressing priorities that are overshadowing the Palestinian cause.

“At this point, it should realise that reaching a compromise with Palestinians is no longer important for Israel’s government or community,” he wrote.

“There is no pressure on Israel to do so, especially since the Palestinian resistance is now at its weakest and has become limited to mere circumstantial reactions or individual operations.”

But the writer argued that this situation should not just be attributed to Israel’s conceit and intransigence or to its confidence in its military power and the weak pressure exerted upon it by the international community.

“It is mainly due to the delicate status quo of Arabs, including the Palestinians,” the writer said. “The Palestinians have used up their energy in the past decade in an uncalculated struggle with Israel that did not yield the expected outcomes – namely stopping the Israeli occupation ... and establishing an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”

But, he continued, the deterioration of the armed resistance was not the only issue.

“Due to their outdated management of their struggle with the enemy, their anarchism and their schisms, Palestinians are facing a new reality: the Israeli West Bank Barrier and the Gaza Strip that has become akin to a prison for a million and a half Palestinians,” he said.

“Moreover, Palestinians have failed to build their political institutions and their national movement has deviated from national liberation to fighting for survival in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip at the expense of their battle against the occupation,” he said.

According to the writer, this situation had encouraged Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to flout a process of compromise for a quarter of a decade.

“It is good that the Palestinian Authority is pursuing its diplomatic and political battle against Israel, but it should not grow disillusioned.

“Holding conferences in Moscow, Paris or any other capital for that matter is practically futile as political exploitation at such conferences is not allowed, and not possible, under the status quo in the East and in light of Palestine’s deteriorating national movement.”

* Translated by Jennifer Attieh