Sir, – With reference to the Israeli deputy ambassador’s letter (July 14th), Israel has a continuing record of never respecting any of its agreements with the Palestinians.
For instance, the 1993 Oslo accords, which stated that a Palestinian state would be established in May 1999, have been deliberately frustrated by Israel. The road map of 2003 explicitly prohibited Israel from any unilateral action, particularly the illegal settlement activity, which has increased year on year.
Since the signing of the Oslo agreement in 1993, the number of illegal Jewish settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories has risen from 150,000 to more than 500,000.
Thus, Israel has continued to flout international laws. If the agreements had been implemented by Israel, peace would have prevailed in the Middle East these past decades.
The Palestinian president has stated that the Palestinian leadership’s priority or first track of effort aims at resuming credible peace negotiations based on clear terms of reference. Unfortunately we are all too aware that efforts to revive negotiations have been extremely challenging, entirely due to Israel’s intransigence, violations and rejection of the internationally endorsed parameters for a solution.
We Palestinians have no option but to seek international recognition at the United Nations for a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. Israel, since it forced its establishment unilaterally in 1948, has continued to the present day as the most prominent example of a state that forced recognition without having recognised borders or even an internationally recognized capital.
Akiva Eldar, an Israeli political analyst, put the position very clearly in the Haaretznewspaper (June 28th) when he wrote, "In effect, recognizing a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders would constitute the first recognition of the Green Line [the demarcation line in the 1949 armistice agreement] as Israel's defined eastern border".
In other words, Israel would become a normal country only when a Palestinian state is established.