Palestinians see present conflict as a war over the land, not as renewal of Intifada

PALESTINIANS see the present conflagration in the West Bank and Gaza as war rather than renewal of the Intifada, the uprising which came to an end when the PLO and Israel signed the first Oslo accord in 1993.

"It's war because you have hostile armies in uniform shooting across a frontier," Mr Fayez Shawwa, a businessman from a leading Gaza family told The Irish Times. "The Intifada was completely different. Unarmed young men threw stones at the Israeli army" occupying the West Bank and Gaza, Mr Shawwa said.

The present conflict is over possession of the land - the Palestinian territories and East Jerusalem, he said.

"We have not been promised Israeli withdrawal and an end to their control," Mr Shawa said. "Now they say all we can expect is autonomy. This amounts to the right to collect our own garbage and clean the streets in our towns and villages but the Israelis remain in control of everything. They say we can never look forward to our own state. Why should we give them peace?"

According to Dr Hanan Ashrawi, the Palestinian Minister of Higher Education, the conflict grew out of Palestinian frustration over the lack of progress in the extension of Palestinian self rule to Hebron and the 400 odd villages of the West Bank, still under Israeli control, the expansion of Israeli settlements and confiscation of Palestinian land.

The Palestinians lost faith in the peace process as they saw their lands swallowed up by Israeli settlements and roads, she said. The frustration built up during Labour rule when the Oslo accords were implemented in "fits and starts" and erupted into violence because, she said, the government of Mr Benjamin Netanyahu was practising "deliberate deception" by professing peace while "waging war" on Palestinians by taking their land.

Since Mr Netanyahu took office, contacts between the two sides consisted of "meetings without substance", Dr Ashrawi said.

Dr Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian chief negotiator, stated repeatedly that the Israelis have failed to meet "34 specific commitments they had made in the agreements they have signed".

The Palestine President, Mr Arafat, had "no choice" but to respond to the challenge of the Israeli extension of the tunnel near the al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, a Palestinian academic told The Irish Times.

Dr Erekat characterised this action as a "violation of the Oslo accords" which "prohibits making any changes in the status quo" in the Holy City until its future is settled in permanent status talks.

According to many Palestinian observers, those talks may now be put on hold indefinitely because of the violence.