Scholars And Specialists Call For Full Palestinian Plans To Deal With Israeli Withdrawal After-Effects

2005-06-06

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GAZA, Palestine, June 6, 2005 (IPC) - - A group of Palestinian scholars and professionals asserted on Sunday the need to lay out complementary Palestinian plans to deal with the after-effects of Israeli withdrawal from Gaza Strip and parts of northern West Bank.

This came in a conference held on Sunday by the Palestinian Non-Government Organizations Network (PNGON) at the Grand Palace Hotel in Gaza.

Speaking in the conference, the professor of political sciences at Al Azhar University of Gaza, Dr. Ibrahim Abrash, said that the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan was mainly a security one, in which he aimed to abort the Palestinian national project.

Meanwhile, The Director General of State Information Service (SIS), Riyadh Al Hassan, commented that Palestinians had a plan of negotiations for the final status, whether Israel wanted it or not, noting that there have been recent global demands to resolve the Palestinian cause.

He pointed out that peace, coexistence and normalization would be very difficult and inapplicable without a just solution for the Palestinian cause.

On his part, political analyst Talal Okal stated that the Israeli withdrawal plan have been made only for Israel's interests, pointing out that Israel has been imposing its own version of peace in the region, without ever wanting the involvement of a third party.

He further mentioned that the American letter of guarantees the US President George Bush gave to Sharon introduced the Disengagement Plan as a long-term solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

As for the conference's second session, the director of Al Mizan Center for Human Rights, Esam Younis, presented a paper on the legal notes concerning the Israeli unilateral disengagement plan, in which he asserted that the Israeli plan would merely redeploy forces around the Gaza Strip and evacuate illegal Israeli settlements, while tightening the grip over Jerusalem, and stepping up the construction of the Apartheid Wall and settlements.

Younis explained that the Israeli plan aims to keep Gaza as an "Occupied Territory", stressing the need for legal and political action to confront the obligations of this plan. "We must not take the presence of the [Israeli] settlements for granted, before discussing the management of assets and properties."

Adding on this point, the law professor at Al Azhar University of Gaza, Dr. Mousa Abu Mallouh, made clear that the legal international and Palestinian point of view consider the areas Israel will withdraw from as occupied, not disputed.

Abu Mallouh said that Israel didn't resort to the international arena to implement the disengagement plan, but referred to the legitimacy given to it by Washington.

As for the economic aspect, Dr. Mohammed Al Samhouri, speaking on behalf of the Civil Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan, said the last four and a half years have witnessed a great deterioration in the economic and social conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories, in addition to the soaring poverty ratio, as more Palestinian families cross the poverty line of $2 a day with each passing day.

The economic expert warned that the Israeli withdrawal would cause Israel to dominate international border crossings in Gaza Strip, with the Palestinian labor market being the sole victim by 2008.

Representing the Association of Palestinian Businessmen, Ali Abu Shahla spoke about the demographic aspect of the withdrawal, pointing out that this aspect has made Israeli leaders lean towards the withdrawal more than any other reason.

Abu Shahla said that the population of the West Bank and Gaza Strip at the moment stand at 3.6 million, and that this number will actually double by 2020, not counting Palestinians arriving in the area under any regional or international agreement or solution.

Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis