Over the past 38 years, the United States (U.S.) government has been a firm advocate of Israel despite its brutal occupation of the Palestinian people. Violence between Palestinians and Israelis will cease once members from the international community and the U.S. challenge Israel to end its occupation of Palestine, argued Ambassador Edward Abington, former U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem and a Washington, D.C.-based consultant on U.S. policy toward the Middle East. Abington added that the U.S. must adopt a stronger role as a "regulator" to curb the violence and to ensure its own security and policy interests toward the Middle East.

Speaking at the 2005 Intern Lecture Series, "In Pursuit of Peace: Dialogues on Final Status," at the D.C.-based Palestine Center on 19 July 2005, Abington argued that violence has destroyed confidence between Palestinians and Israelis. He said the U.S. must foster an environment of successful dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli officials to formulate an equitable solution for both sides.

From his first-hand involvement in peace negotiations, Abington was critical of both Palestinians and Israelis. Although Israel assured Palestinians it would comply with the Oslo Interim Agreements of 1993 and 1995 by relinquishing territory in the West Bank, Abington said that former Israeli Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Benjamin Netanyahu embarked on a relentless seizure of Palestinian land and expansion of Israeli settlements as a way of dividing the West Bank and restricting movement for Palestinians. He said the Palestinian Authority viewed Israel's insincerity toward formal agreements as Israel's way of masking its illegal appropriation of land and creation of outposts and settlements.

While the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was unwilling to establish a Palestinian state on Israeli terms, Abington disputed the misconception that Arafat orchestrated the second Palestinian intifada (popular uprising), which began in 2000 after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited the Haram al-Sharif compound in Jerusalem (also known as the Temple Mount). He said Arafat let the intifada continue as a way of putting pressure on Israel to end its use of "maximum force" toward Palestinians. Such events resulted in the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and have prevented a resolution for both sides.

Abington explained that although Israel will unilaterally withdraw its settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip in mid-August 2005, no Palestinian-Israeli agreement has been established that focuses on fundamental issues such as access to Gaza, export of goods, and control over the settlements' water and sewage system. He noted that there are a significant number of greenhouses in the Gaza settlements, which currently employ thousands of Palestinians. Operation of these greenhouses is dependent on the irrigation and waste water from settlements. According to Abington, Israeli officials refuse to address whether the greenhouses will be destroyed post-disengagement.

In order to determine the future of their own economy, Abington said that Palestinians in Gaza need access to the world. He noted the lack of natural resources in the territory and the 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza who are unemployed and dependent on aid from outside sources. He stressed the role that Palestinian control over the Gaza seaport and the restoration of the airport in Gaza would play in distributing Palestinian agricultural and farming products. Without a formal agreement between Palestinian and Israeli officials on these matters, Gaza is unable to thrive as a city or provide for its inhabitants, Abington said.

Abington addressed Israel's intent to use its disengagement from Gaza as a means of continuing its illegal appropriation of land and construction of the Wall in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. In particular, he said Israel is in the process of unilaterally determining its borders by building 8,000-10,000 new homes for Jews in the West Bank and completing the Wall around East Jerusalem and the southern West Bank, thereby physically detaching East Jerusalem from the surrounding villages and land.

Abington argued that the Wall has had a direct impact on the economic and social development of Palestinians. If completed, he said the Wall will prevent the creation of a viable Palestinian state and will leave only 54 percent of land in the West Bank for Palestinians, based on its pre-1967 borders. Using maps and statistics compiled by the Palestinian Liberation Organization's Negotiations Support Unit, Abington stressed the detrimental effects the Wall is having on cities such as Bethlehem and Qalqilya. There, Palestinians are denied access to the land to which they are legally entitled and are prevented free movement and access to other Palestinian towns and social services.

Prior to the second intifada, Abington noted that Qalqilya was once a "thriving market town" that provided Israeli visitors with inexpensive produce and crafts. However, due to harsh "security measures" such as checkpoints, closures, and the Wall, Israelis and Palestinians can no longer interact with one another in a peaceful environment. Abington said the situation in Bethlehem is equally bleak because of the constraints the Wall and the network of settler-only highways and by-pass roads place on its municipal boundary.

Abington stressed that the U.S. must assume a firm stance toward Israel by condemning its militaristic policies and procedures, and that the Bush administration must take risks within Congress to achieve a substantial resolution for both sides.

The above text is based on remarks delivered on 19 July 2005 by Ambassador Edward Abington. The speaker's views do not necessarily reflect those of The Jerusalem Fund or its educational program, The Palestine Center. This "For the Record" summary was written by Palestine Center intern Rasha Uthman and is the third of four lectures summaries that will be published to our email distribution list, on our website, and through our compendia of publications. It may be used without permission but with proper attribution to the Center. The Intern Lecture Series is organized each summer by The Palestine Center's interns. The 2005 summer interns are Zachary Bernstein of Georgetown University, Laura Breslin of Vanderbilt University and Rasha Uthman of Emory University.


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