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Palestinian Unification Must Honor Palestinian Commitments

(Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Amb. Alan Baker - One aim of Palestinian unification must be to enable a responsible and unified leadership, speaking with one voice and duly empowered, to further the peace negotiation process. This aim must be publicly declared and acknowledged by all Palestinian factions. If, to the contrary, the aim of the unification is to enhance and consolidate Palestinian opposition to peaceful coexistence with Israel, then this unification will undermine international efforts at reconciliation and negotiation. Such unification must also openly reaffirm the already existing and valid Palestinian commitments vis-a-vis Israel and the international community as set out in detail in the Oslo Accords. Above all, these commitments require dismantling all terror groups and infrastructures, together with a return to economic and security cooperation and a positive negotiating mode. Before blindly welcoming any such inter-Palestinian unification, international leaders should insist that the basic components for positive unification are included in any such agreement. The writer, a former legal adviser and deputy director-general of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, participated in the negotiation and drafting of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians.
2017-10-16 00:00:00
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