Fayyad: de facto Palestinian state in two years

Geen tijd om dit artikel uit de London Times te vertalen. Salam Fayyad, de niet-gekozen premier van een regering die is benoemd door een Palestijnse president wiens mandaat in januari verliep, zegt dat de PA in twee haar eigen staat wil vestigen, ongeacht het verloop van de vredesbesprekingen. Ben ik te achterdochtig of te somber als ik vrees dat dit gaat leiden tot een uitverkoop van Palestijnse idealen? En een verband vermoed met het verloop van de eerder deze maand gehouden conferentie van Fatah?

The Palestinian Authority intends to bypass failing peace talks and establish its own de facto state within two years, Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Prime Minister, said.
Speaking on the eve of talks in London today between Binyamin Netanyahu and Gordon Brown, his Israeli and British counterparts, Mr Fayyad said that the idea was to “end the occupation, despite the occupation”. He told The Times in an interview: “After 16 years [of failed peace talks] why not change the discourse?
“We have decided to be proactive, to expedite the end of the occupation by working very hard to build positive facts on the ground, consistent with having our state emerge as a fact that cannot be ignored. This is our agenda, and we want to pursue it doggedly.”
He said that if a functioning de facto state existed — with or without Israeli co-operation — including competent security forces, functioning public services and a thriving economy, it would force Israel to put its cards on the table as to whether it was serious about ending the 42-year occupation of the West Bank. He hoped that this goal could be achieved by mid-2011.
“It is empowering to even think that way,” said an animated Mr Fayyad, a respected economist. He has spent the past two years — since the Islamist group Hamas took over the Gaza Strip by force — wooing investors to the West Bank and building up professional security forces, trained under British and American supervision.
He said that the days of mutual recriminations were over and that both sides must commit to the 2003 “road map” whereby Israel would implement a comprehensive settlement freeze and the Palestinians curb the activities of militant groups.
“What is required is greater clarity and greater accountability,” he said, noting that the vastly improved Palestinian security forces showed his Palestinian Authority was holding up its end of the bargain. He said that it was time for the Israelis to do the same and rejected Mr Netanyahu’s attempts to secure a compromise on allowing settlement construction that is already under way to be continued.

Het complete artikel staat hier.