[WCUSP] Fwd: Safieh interview in Newsweek

Mon Dec 24 12:01:49 CST 2007

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: PLO Mission to the USA <plomission1 at aol.com>
Date: Dec 23, 2007 7:02 PM
Subject: Safieh interview in Newsweek
To: odilehh at gmail.com

                           PLO Mission
                        Washington, DC

'Absence of Courage'

A Palestinian official argues that international donors are pledging
millions to Gaza and the West Bank because they hope their generosity
will compensate for their lack of political will.

By Vivian Salama

Newsweek Web Exclusive

Updated: 6:32 PM ET Dec 18, 2007

Amid international skepticism and ongoing regional tensions, 87
countries and international organizations have pledged $7.4 billion in
aid to help build a Palestinian state. Monday's Paris meeting of the
donors comes on the heels of last month's Annapolis talks, a White
House effort to revitalize Israeli-Palestinian negotiations before the
Bush administration leaves office. The money, which is expected to
pass through various channels, including international aid
organizations and the Palestinian government-that is, the government
of Mahmoud Abbas and not the now-defunct Hamas-led government in
Gaza-was donated in response to this week's World Bank report, which
noted that "even under the most optimistic scenarios significant aid
will continue to be required" to ensure the economic stability of the
West Bank and Gaza. Afif Safieh, a Palestinian diplomat who heads the
Palestine Liberation Organization Mission in Washington, spoke to
Vivian Salama about the likely impact of the aid package and the
latest political developments in the Palestinian territories.
Excerpts:

Vivian Salama: What is your reaction to the news of the aid package?
Afif Safieh: Since the international community did not show the
political courage needed in Annapolis or in the pre-Annapolis period,
which necessitated some confrontation with the Israeli territorial
appetite, they are now showing financial generosity because of the
absence of political audacity and political courage. They feel the
collapse of the Palestinian society and the Palestinian economy will
generate additional chaos to a region already plagued with it, so this
is the result.

What is the alternative and/or the lacking initiative, in your opinion?
I would have preferred the political courage and the diplomatic
courage which is needed to support the Palestinian state, but this
would have meant a political confrontation with the Israeli political
leadership. This is what countries in the international system want to
avert. They compensate the lack of political courage with financial
generosity. Now, the report made by the World Bank says that if the
roadblocks and strangulation of [Palestinian] society and the economy
of society continues, even with external financial help, our economy
will continue to shrink and decline by 2 percent every year. We have
the potential of going back to levels of growth which will be double
digit if you give [us] the capability.

Do you see Israel as a partner?
The Israelis are until now reluctant to reduce the number of
roadblocks, most of which have no security value except to plunge us
into economic decline. Here I invite you to explore the expression
that was originally coined by Sarah Roy, a Jewish-American writer, the
daughter of survivors, a Harvard scholar, who invented the concept of
de-development of Palestine-meaning that the deliberate Israeli policy
[was] to plunge us into economic decline, and that's what's happening.

The Bush administration-namely [Secretary of State] Condoleezza
Rice-has pledged its devotion to the creation of a Palestinian state
before the end of its term. Are you optimistic, and is this new aid
package what is needed to get this process off the ground?
I believe in the sincerity of President Bush and Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice. I find the statement made by Secretary Rice that the
creation of a Palestinian state is an American national interest [is]
an important political statement which reflects the reality of the
analysis by a growing body. I believe Bush when he told President
Mahmoud Abbas in New York in September [that Bush] is growing
increasingly impatient by the absence of progress. Since we have been
unreasonably reasonable, I don't think his impatience is addressed to
my side of the argument. The question is will [Bush and Rice] vent
their annoyance with the obstacle towards advance. Unfortunately so
far there is no indication. Not only did the Israelis invest all their
genius to lower expectations in the weeks that preceded Annapolis, but
immediately after Annapolis they invested all their brilliance into
torpedoing the modest results that emerged. Annapolis was supposed to
retrigger a credible diplomatic avenue.

Does the aid package at least make you optimistic?
We are often asked, "Are you optimistic or pessimistic?" Even though I
don't feel we Palestinians have the luxury of pessimism, even though I
believe that it's only optimists who make history, I am often reminded
that the definition of a pessimist is an informed optimist.

The World Bank has just released a detailed account on the dire
economic conditions in Gaza and the West Bank. How would you describe
the situation in [Hamas-controlled] Gaza?
A stain on the conscience of mankind. I read [the World Bank] report
on Gaza: the inadmissible, the inconceivable is perpetrated on a daily
basis. The Israelis withdrew out of Gaza yet besieged Gaza
immediately, turning it into an open-air prison. They withdrew out of
Gaza in order to improve their grip on the West Bank. [Former Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon never concealed that aim.

Some see this aid package as a victory for the Palestinian cause.
It shows the reservoir of goodwill and the diplomatic and universal
unanimity the birth of a Palestinian state enjoys. Yet I am today more
worried by the political impotence that we have witnessed throughout
the decades. I believe peace is desirable, possible, doable yesterday
already! As is frequently said, every possible scenario alternative
and their opposite have been explored ad nauseam. I always tell
Israelis that a territory that was occupied in six days can also be
evacuated in six days, so that they can rest on the seventh and we can
engage in the fascinating journey of economic development and
reconstruction. It's the absence of the political will that is
disturbing.

URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/80804

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