Word: gaza
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Palestinian problem is the most intractable part of the Middle Eastern conflict. The Palestinians are fragmented, geographically and politically. Those who live in the territory of the former British mandate of Palestine are divided into two groups--Israeli Arabs, and the Arabs of the occupied West Bank and Gaza strip. Those who left Palestine either in 1948, when Israel became a state, or in 1967, when Israel moved into the West Bank and Gaza, are dispersed all over the Middle East, in Jordan, in the Emirates, in Saudi Arabia, in Syria, in Lebanon where the guerillas of the Palestine Liberation...
...even a sovereign state of Palestine limited to the West Bank and Gaza is unacceptable to Israel's political leaders, who fear its attraction on Israeli Arabs, and see in it a possible Soviet base, or at least a permanent threat to Israel's security if this state should be controlled by the PLO. Since giving to the occupied Palestinians the right of self-determination could lead to such a state, Israel has refused to grant it. But the PLO, in turn, declines to recognize Israel's existence, as long as Israel does not acknowledge this right and refuses...
...None of these is enthusiastic about a PLO-led state. Some, like Saudi Arabia, fear its potential radicalism. Others, like Syria or Iraq, would like to control the future of the Palestinian nation. Jordan, of course, would prefer to reassert its authority over the West Bank, and Egypt over Gaza. However, for tactical reasons at least, all the Arab states agree that the Palestinians must be given the right of self-determination...
...months, we should keep our eye on three different arenas. First, there is the negotiation between Egypt, Israel and the U.S., which aims at giving substance to the ambiguous and open-ended Camp David agreement on a five-year, transitional autonomy scheme for the West Bank and Gaza. Second, there is the strained relationship between the U.S. (and Egypt) on the one hand, and the rest of the Arab world, which has denounced the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty and attacked the Camp David agreement as unacceptable. Thirdly, there is the complicated game that goes on between the Palestinian leaders...
...after such consultation, the Palestinians refuse to run for office in the West Bank and Gaza, the "autonomy" road will have turned into a dead end. The U.S., in order to heal its rift with the Arabs other than Egypt--a rift that may have serious effects on the price and quantities of Saudi oil--will have to find a new way, and return to the idea of a comprehensive settlement. If, on the contrary, the West Bank Palestinians, while denouncing the autonomy scheme as insufficient, decide, in agreement with the PLO and Jordan, to run for office...