If Israel rejects the Arab Peace Initiative endorsed in March at the Arab summit, the region will go through difficult times, with the Jewish state facing the most danger, senior Palestinian official Farouk Kaddoumi warned on Friday.
Kaddoumi spoke with The Daily Star during a meeting of the Arab Peace Initiative Follow-Up Committee. He was attending in place of Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, who was unable to attend.
“Martyrdom operations ­ not ‘suicide operations’ ­ will continue if the Israeli Army doesn’t stop its incursions into Palestinian cities and villages,” Kaddoumi warned, rejecting the term most commonly used to describe the human bombs.
He said Washington should pressure Israel to commit to the peace deal, which he said is based on the creation of a Palestinian state, the return of refugees and the dismantling of settlements ­ paired with guarantees of security for both states, Israel and Palestine.
The initiative, which was first proposed by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, was unanimously endorsed at the Beirut Arab League summit in March.
Despite recent and repetitive Israeli dismissals of US instructions and wishes, Washington has the power to pressure Israel through its position as the Jewish state’s main backer and arms provider, Kaddoumi said.
“Without US backing … the Jewish state would collapse,” he said.
As proof of US power over Israel, Kaddoumi recalled the pressure Washington exerted on Israel during the Gulf War, when it prevented the Jewish state from retaliating for Iraqi missile attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ignored repeated US demands to end last month’s offensive in the West Bank.
Kaddoumi accused Israel of not wanting peace and of “wasting time and using lies as excuses to get away from peace negotiations.”
“(Israel) says (it) won’t negotiate peace before suicide bombings stop; at other times it says it won’t start negotiations before the Palestinian Authority undergoes reforms,” he said.
Kaddoumi also said the PA would not carry out reforms until Israel ends its occupation and allows free movement from one Palestinian territory to another.
“The first step … is the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Occupied Territories, so reforms can be implemented,” he said.
Kaddoumi also called for the temporary deployment of international forces after the Arab Peace Initiative’s implementation as a means of preventing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, in addition to lifting the Israeli siege of Palestinian territories and preventing the reoccupation of lands seized in 1967.
Sharon has refused to accept the idea of a peacekeeping force to separate the two sides.

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