Home » Politics & Society » Middle East Politics » Where do we go from here?: Is the West Bank withdrawal agreement

Where do we go from here?: Is the West Bank withdrawal agreement

© lawhawk

This past week has seen a number of issues raised about the agreed upon withdrawal from the West Bank by the Israelis and handing over authority to the Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority claims that the Israelis agreed upon a 30 percent withdrawal from the territories and anything less constitutes a violation of the peace process and a breakdown of further discussions. The Israeli government claims that they only have to give back 9 percent.

What gives? How can both sides agree to terms of what is essentially a contract and then argue that the terms are different. It turns out that interpretation has everything to do with the relations between Palestinians and Israelis and this issue is just symptomatic of the problems in general.

The West Bank withdrawal apparently was worded in such a way that allows it to be subject to differing interpretations and therefore allow the Palestinians and Israelis to come to different results. This is not to say that either side is right or wrong for arguing their points. It only serves to point out the difficulty where both sides believe they have reached a substantial agreement only to turn around and find out the other side has interpreted the agreement in a totally different fashion.

The question then becomes how do the sides propose continuing the peace process despite the apparent impasse on the withdrawal issue. Violence is not going to be in anyone's interests, yet this is what some are suggesting may in fact occur. Additional negotiations should be conducted to reach an agreement to withdraw from the territories. If Israel is correct in its interpretation, the Palestinian Authority should be held accountable for any violence that occurs and if the Palestinian Authority is correct, the Israelis should accept that decision and abide by the terms and withdraw from the territories as proposed.

In other news:

On Thursday, apparently a Jordanian soldier manning a position along the Israel/Jordan border opened fire on a group of Israeli schoolchildren, killing six and wounding several others. This act of violence was roundly denounced by King Hussein, President Clinton, Prime Minister Netenyahu and others.

The United Nations General Assembly voted to reprimand Israel for its impending construction in the disputed areas of Har Homa. This move, a non-binding resolution is essentially a slap on the wrist, but shows that world opinion is strongly against the Israeli position.