Word: palestinian
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...year-old Palestinian and yet I am very different from other 20-year-old Palestinians who have known only life under occupation. Of course, I hope that the violence and bloodshed will soon be over. But I ask myself how I would feel if I were a child of the Intifada or a father whose son or daughter was killed by a stray bullet. It will take more than a handshake to make the anger of my people subside...
...Palestinians, meanwhile, have much to lose as the agreement now stands. The basic problem revolves around statehood: the Palestinian people want a separate Palestinian state, but the Israelis have always claimed that there is no space for such a state between Israel and Jordan. In my opinion there will only be real peace if Israel compromises its position on statehood...
Indeed, the accord actually undermines prospects for a Palestinian state by suggesting that the Palestinians have given up on any such hopes for independence. It tacitly accepts the existence of two individual entities in the occupied territories, thereby legitimizing Israel's claim to Palestinian land...
...Palestinians should not be compelled to forfeit our basic rights to an independent nation. Palestinian autonomy should not under any circumstances become the final stage of the agreement and the PLO should make it clear that they have not abandoned the claim to an independent state. If the PLO can obtain from Israel a guarantee that the issue of statehood will remain open to negotiation, it might perhaps lessen opposition to the accord...
...issue of statehood isn't the only problem with the accord. The Declaration of Principles does not mention the future of the Palestinian refugees and exiles in Jordan and Syria who have waited for years to return to their homes and land. It deliberately avoids the question of who will control the borders between the territories, Egypt and Jordan. It ignores the issue of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and it limits the size of the area to be conceded by Israel to a space far too small for the creation of a stable state or economy...