Palestinian diplomat Areikat discusses Palestinian-Israeli relations
Kevin Agostinelli“I do not see any other solution to the Palestine-Israeli conflict other than an independent, sovereign, viable, contiguous Palestinian state – and when I say sovereign I mean a state that will enjoy all attributes of sovereignty,” Ambassador Maen Rashid Areikat, chief representative of the Palestinian Liberation Organization to the United States, said in a lecture on Tuesday.During the lecture, Areikat gave an overarching view of his position as a major Palestinian diplomat, offering a variety of reasons as to why a two-state solution is not just the best answer for Israel and Palestine – it is the only one.Areikat referenced the existing state of affairs with the Israeli occupation of Palestine, which has grown even tighter as a result of what he refers to as “the most extreme right-wing government in the history of Israel.”According to Areikat, the growing number of legal Israeli settlements within Palestine is an indication that pulling out of Palestine is not on the Israeli government's agenda."You can see it with your own eyes,” Areikat said.The ambassador described in greater detail what the terms of the proposed two-state solution would be in order for Palestine to be able to obtain its own legitimate autonomy.“The reason in the past that our people had refused Israeli offers was because Israel wanted to continue to control the Palestinian people even after they [the Palestinians] established their own Palestinian state,” Areikat explained, “That’s why all the negotiations have failed – because Israel did not want the Palestinians to have sovereignty of the Palestinian state.Areikat listed some of the terms of a two-state solution including no presence of the Israeli military in the future Palestinian state, no control of air space or international checking points and no control of local or natural resources.He explained that the question now is not so much whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will support the Palestinian state – rather, it is what kind of Palestinian state Netanyahu would potentially approve of that is at odds with Palestinians' own wishes.“Imagine the occupiers turning into peacekeepers after nearly 50 years," Areikat added.
