Jag skrev nyligen om hur palestinierna förhalar fredsförhandlingarna i Jordanien. Jag citerade The Telegraphs utrikeskorre Con Coughlin:
Most people in the West believe the main reason the talks are not going anywhere is because of Israel’s refusal to compromise on its settlement building programme. But while the Netanyahu government’s insistence on building settlements is certainly an obstacle, I am told by Western diplomats close to the exploratory talks that are currently taking place in Jordan between the two sides that the real reason they are running into difficulty is because the Palestinian delegation, led by the veteran Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, is refusing to take the talks seriously.
For example, I am told by a Western diplomat working for the Quartet that when the Israeli delegation arrived for a meeting last weekend in Amman, the Jordanian capital, to present their latest security proposals, Mr Erekat simply refused to enter the room.
Efter att palestinierna så tydligt visat sin syn på fredsprocessen går nu Amnesty ut och kritiserar… trumvirvel… Israel: Från Huffington Post – Amnesty International: Radical Changes Needed in Israel Approach
The Quartet, comprised of representatives from the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, has facilitated the so-called peace negotiations for the past 10 years with little change in their approach, and 2012 does not bode well for those in the region or for prospects for peace.
While Amnesty International takes no position on the peace process per se, the organization urges that any negotiations be founded on ensuring respect for human rights. Amnesty is calling on the United States and other members of the Quartet not to let negotiations drag on as they have done for years without progress, but to instead implement immediate and essential changes in their approach.
Artikeln beskriver problem med bosättningar:
Since the 1993 Oslo Agreement, Amnesty has underlined with increasing urgency the need to base peace on the human rights enshrined in international human rights standards. This should extend to the construction of Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territory, which violates the prohibition on population transfers by an occupying power into lands that it occupies.
Last December, a group of 20 international humanitarian and human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, issued a joint statement highlighting startling numbers for 2011; most disturbing among them is the fact that a “record number of Palestinians were displaced in 2011 due to home demolitions.”
The figures show that since the beginning of 2011 more than 500 Palestinian essential structures were destroyed in the OPT, with over 1,000 Palestinians displaced — doubling the number displaced over the same period in 2010, and the highest figure since at least 2005. More than half of those displaced have been children.
The rate of illegal Israeli settlement expansion in occupied territory increased, as did violence perpetrated by settlers on Palestinians. […]
In 2011, the construction of settler housing units accelerated, and plans for around 4,000 new units were approved for East Jerusalem — the highest number since at least 2006.
Violent attacks by settlers against Palestinians, including children, escalated by over 50 percent in 2011 compared to 2010, and by over 160 percent compared to 2009. Settlers have destroyed or damaged nearly 10,000 Palestinian trees in 2011, undermining the livelihoods of hundreds of families with virtual impunity. Over 90 percent of complaints of settler violence were closed by the Israeli police without indictment from 2005-2010.
In 2012, up to 2,300 Bedouin living in the Jerusalem periphery face forcible and unlawful relocation if Israeli authorities follow through with their reported plans, and rural communities in the Jordan Valley face the prospect of further demolitions as settlements continue to expand.
The increasing rate of settlement expansion, demolitions and other human rights violations make any prospect for a just and sustainable peace virtually impossible, and the continuing disconnect between the Quartet talks and the situation on the ground is dangerous.
Men eftersom Amnesty inte tar ställning tog de också upp palestiniernas överträdelser:
Violent acts by Palestinians on Israelis also continued, including rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
Vad de helt verkar ha missat var dock att palestiniernas bild av fredsförhandlingar är att inte ens gå in i rummet med sin motpart.
De senaste åren har världen fullkomligt blundat för palestiniernas vägran till fred. Och nu kräver Amnesty en “radical change” – hur ska detta rimligtvis se ut? Gissningsvis inte genom att man behandlar båda parter lika.
Via Amnestys officiella twitterkonto.
UPPDATERING: Elder of Ziyon bloggar om utspelet.
