Newspaper
El Liberal
Santiago
del Estero – Saturday, August 19 of 2000
Exclusive interview with the Palestine National Authority’s Ambassador
Israel has nothing to reclaim (view)
Holocaust. The diplomat said: “While Israel reclaims huge amounts of money as compensation for the human and material loses in Nazi camps; on the other hand, it denies the Palestinian holocaust its right to enjoy a compensation. That is, it seems as if there were a VIP holocaust and an unimportant holocaust”.
The Ambassador of the Palestine National Authority in Argentina, Suhail Hani Daher Akel, showed himself hopeful about the fact that the definitely peace agreement between Palestinian and Israelis is going to be signed on next September 13.
In exclusive declarations to El Liberal, he emphasized that “the Arab world and Israel itself need an independent and sovereign Palestine State”.
Akel also emphasized that they count with Israeli movements and organizations which work in favor of peace. He released that the Movimiento Judio por los Derechos Humanos (Jewish Movement for Human Rights) will carry out a public act in favor of peace between Palestine and Israel at his diplomatic headquarter at 18:00. He himself and journalist Horacio Verbistky, among others, are going to be the speakers.
What does the Palestine National Authority think of the fact that Israel had to include the Jerusalem issue in Camp Davis?
“Camp Davis was a very important meeting because Israel had to include Jerusalem on the agenda for the first time. This issue should have been approached on May 4, 1996; according to the agreements signed in Oslo. Israel never fulfilled it and it took Jerusalem captive, considering it a unified city, the eternal capital city of Israel. This attitude was not accepted by the United Nations by means of the resolution Nº 478”.
“Jerusalem is our capital city and we have proven it in Camp Davis. We will not make any kind of concession with regard to this issue. We, Palestinians, have nothing to offer. We are claiming for the part of our land which was occupied by the Israeli occupation forces on June 5, 1967”.
Israel, which is an occupant country, has nothing to claim for. It has to respect UN resolutions dealing with the occupied territories and Jerusalem. Besides, it has to respect the accords it has signed with us on September 13, 1993; May 4, 1994; September 28, 1995 and May 4 of 1999, which must conclude in September 2000. It is called Sharam El Sheik Accord”.
Was Camp Davis a decisive issue to reach a definite peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis on next September 13?
He emphatically expressed: “It must be so. You have to remember that we should have proclaimed the restitution and independence of the Palestine State with Jerusalem as the capital city on May of 1999, a date where Oslo accords should have concluded. However, difficulties within the Israeli government blocked the date May 4”.
“We cannot continue postponing or accepting Israeli exhortations with regard to the fact that Palestinians cannot make unilateral decisions. Israel occupied Jerusalem and Arab territories (Syrian Golan, the Sinai and Southern Jerusalem) in an unilateral way. Israel is the less suitable country to tell us what decision we should make. Everything will be done by common consent”.
The Arab League has warned us that there will not be a fair and endless peace in Middle East until the establishment of an independent Palestine State with Eastern Jerusalem as the capital city...
“It is a right statement. Most countries in the world really indicate this. The Holy Father, Juan Pablo II, visited the Holy Land and the Palestinian refugee camps. He told the international community that the Palestinian people had already suffered too much and they had the right to have an State of their own”.
“Besides, the Palestine National Authority signed an agreement on Jerusalem with the Holy See on last February 15. This shows signs of what the Holy See thinks of Jerusalem, that is, an internationalized society. A concept we fully share”.
The general secretary of the Arab League, Esmat Abdel Meguid, said that Arabs believe Jerusalem is a “red line” which nobody can go through...
“Jerusalem is historically the capital city of Palestine, Muslims, Jews, Christians Arab world and three religions. It is the land of prophets. It is the land which received Prophet Abraham and it is the one where the Palestinian Jesus Christ was able to preach, as well as, the land where he died and revived. It has to be respected”.
“We want it to be a city which is open to the three religions. That is why we have reached an agreement with Juan Pablo II and that is why fifteen Arab countries are going to meet at the Kingdom of Morocco on next August 28. We do not want to divide the city with walls or deploy barbed wire. We want it to be a unified city with two administrations: a sovereign one on Eastern Jerusalem and an Israeli one on Western Jerusalem.