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CounterPunch
November
8, 2002
Palestine Independence
Day
by FRANCIS BOYLE
On November 15, 1988, the independent state of
Palestine was proclaimed by the Palestine National Council (PNC),
meeting in Algiers, by a vote of 253 to 46, as well as in front
of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the capital of the new state,
after the close of prayers, in testament to the monumental importance
of Al Aqsa Mosque to the Palestinian people. A remarkable opportunity
for peace was created by the Palestinian Declaration of Independence
because therein the PNC officially endorsed a two-state solution
in order to resolve the basic conflict. Right now the goal of
obtaining peace with justice for all peoples in the Middle East
can be achieved on the basis of a two-state solution for the
Palestinian people and the Jewish people, respectively.
This Palestinian Declaration of Independence
explicitly accepted the UN General Assembly's Partition Resolution
181(II) of 1947, which called for the creation of a Jewish state
and an Arab state in the former Mandate for Palestine, together
with an international trusteeship for the City of Jerusalem.
The significance of the PNC's acceptance of partition in the
Palestinian Declaration of Independence itself cannot be overemphasized.
Prior thereto, from the perspective of the Palestinian people,
the Partition Resolution had been deemed to be a criminal act
that was perpetrated upon them by the United Nations. Today,
the acceptance of the Partition Resolution in their actual Declaration
of Independence signals a genuine desire by the Palestinian people
to transcend the past century of bitter conflict with Jewish
people in their midst in order to reach an historic accommodation
with them on the basis of a two-state solution. The Declaration
of Independence is the foundational document for the State of
Palestine. It is determinative, definitive, and irreversible.
In this regard, it should be emphasized
that Israel also officially accepted the UN Partition Resolution
in its own Declaration of Independence and further, as a condition
for its admission to membership in the United Nations Organization.
The 1947 UN Partition Plan called for the Palestinian people
to have a much larger section of historic Palestine for their
state than do the 1967 boundaries contemplated by UN Security
Council Resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973). By comparison,
today the Palestinian people would be prepared to accept the
1967 boundaries for the state of Palestine, which would consist
essentially of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
The PNC's solemn acceptance of Resolutions 242 and 338 represented
a significant concession by the Palestinian people for the benefit
of the Israeli people.
Moreover, as another express condition
for its admission to the United Nations Organization, the government
of Israel officially endorsed and agreed to carry out UN General
Assembly Resolution 194(III) of 1948, which determined that Palestinian
refugees have a right to return to their homes, or that compensation
should be paid to those who choose not to return. Furthermore,
that same article 13(2) of the 1948 Universal Declaration of
Human rights which Soviet Jews relied upon to justify their emigration
from the former Soviet Union provides that: "Everyone has
the right...to return to his country." That absolute right
of return clearly applies to Palestinian refugees living in their
Diaspora who want to return to their homes in Israel and Palestine.
The state of Israel owes a prior legal obligation to resettle
Palestinian refugees who want to return home before it undertakes
further massive settlements of Jews and others from around the
world. These and all other "final status" issues can
and must be negotiated in good faith by Israel with the Provisional
Government for the state of Palestine, which was also established
on 15 November 1988.
In this regard, having served as Legal
Advisor to the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace
Negotiations from 1991 to 1993, and in a similar capacity to
the Syrian Delegation to the Middle East Negotiations during
their First Round held in Washington, D.C. during 1991, I can
state unequivocally that if there had been good faith on the
part of the governments of Israel and the United States back
in 1991, there could have been negotiated a comprehensive Middle
East peace settlement between Israel, on the one hand, and Palestine,
Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, respectively, on the other, no later
than by the end of 1993. Obviously, the governments of Israel
and the United States were never seriously interested in obtaining
a comprehensive and just Middle East peace settlement in the
first place, going all the way back to the preparatory work for
the Middle East Peace Negotiations by the Bush Sr. administration
in the aftermath of its genocidal war against Iraq. Rather, Israel's
perpetration and prolongation of its "low intensity conflict"
against Palestine and the Palestinians as well as against Lebanon,
the Lebanese, and Palestinian refugees living involuntarily in
Lebanon, suit the economic and political interests of the interpenetrated
security-military-industrial-complexes that really control the
governments of the United States and Israel.
Of course, from the Palestinian perspective,
there is nothing "low intensity" about their just struggle
for national survival against the Israeli-American juggernaut.
And there are signs that Israeli Prime Minister General Ariel
Sharon would like to unleash a major new war against Lebanon
and Syria just as he did in 1982 when as Israel's "Minister
of Defense" truly Orwellian! He obtained the proverbial
"green light" from the Reagan administration to do
so and exterminated about 20,000 Arabs in the process. Right
now the "governments" of the United States and Israel
are plotting to launch catastrophic aggression against Iraq.
Sharon could very well use this new anti-Iraqi war as a pretext
and a cover to launch yet another Israeli campaign of ethnic
cleansing against the Palestinian people, driving their West
Bank residents into Jordan, which Sharon has always quite disingenuously
maintained "is Palestine", and their Gaza inhabitants
into the Sinai desert. Meanwhile, President Bush Jr. dispatched
Secretary of State Colin Powell around the world to tamp down
international discontent over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
in order to better enable the United States to reap the whirlwind
of Iraq. This incredibly volatile situation could readily degenerate
into another regional war for the entire Middle East along the
lines of 1948/1967/1973. Could World War III be far behind?
Nevertheless, a remarkable opportunity
for peace was created by the 15 November 1988 Palestinian Declaration
of Independence. What is needed now from the Israeli government
and people as well as from the American government and people
is the same Will for Peace that was demonstrated by the Palestinians
fourteen years ago. The Israelis and the Americans must seize
this historic moment for peace. Otherwise, I doubt very seriously
that history will given any of us a second chance for obtaining
peace with justice for all peoples and states in the Middle East.
Francis A. Boyle,
Professor of Law, University of Illinois, is author of Foundations
of World Order, Duke University Press, and The
Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence, Clarity Press. Starting
in 1987, Boyle served as Legal Advisor to the Palestine Liberation
Organization on the 15 November 1988 Palestinian Declaration
of Independence and their ensuing Palestinian Peace Initiative.
The story is told in his forthcoming book Palestine, Palestinians,
and International Law (Clarity Press: 2003).
He can be reached at: FBOYLE@LAW.UIUC.EDU
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