We publish an article of our Project Director, in relation to the events that occurred recently where all parliamentary factions of Congress reached an agreement to urge the Government to recognize the Palestinian state, subject to prior negotiation process between Israelis and Palestinians.
Palestine
Since I first traveled to Palestine in December 1995 to launch a project of development cooperation, I could see with my eyes and through the experiences of friends and colleagues who live there, the ups and downs experienced by the peace process in all these years. And one of the things I’ve learned is that both the eventual positive developments and the threats of impending disasters should be approached with caution.
More than twenty five years have gone by and since then the FPSC has had a continuous presence in this land working with our local partners in favor of the most disadvantaged people.
Yesterday it was certainly a historic day on the way to the recognition of a Palestinian state. The Spanish Parliament, as recently did the English and the Irish Parliament has approved almost unanimously a motion law for the recognition of Palestine as an independent state. It seems that the French Parliament will host a similar initiative this month. Sweden is ahead, it is the first country in the European Union that has officially recognized Palestine as a state. All steps forward in this area certainly provide hope of a peaceful future. And not little. But it is still a rather symbolic step. For there to be peace and future both sides have to sit once and for all to negotiate. And that is because it is not easy. I recently read in a blog the opinion of an Israeli journalist, Noam Sheizaf, in that regard: This is the time when the Israelis need to have an honest debate about the type of agreement that we prefer to negotiate. Such a debate can not exist now, because the only thing we can all agree on is prolonging the status quo.
In addition, the agreement of Spanish Parliament occurs in a context of great violence in Jerusalem, where almost every day we are witnessing the death of innocent people -people coming down from a tram, bus drivers, and faithful praying -, I do not care on which side they are. Some media (such as the Israeli daily Haaretz) speak of a “wave of Palestinian terror that begins to resemble a religious war”. And here we enter a sensitive area. We can not forget that the last cycle of attacks by both sides began in late October, with the controversy over the Temple Mount and the claim of a group of radical Jews to pray in an area of Jerusalem that not only has a enormous religious significance for Muslims, but has been managed by its authorities practically since the VII century. The murder yesterday of Jewish worshipers praying in a synagogue, does nothing but fuels the fear that the confrontation acquires religious overtones.
So with this scenario, of course I welcome the steps that the future Palestinian state is giving to its official recognition. And I’m glad because it is the result of a major diplomatic effort. Unfortunately the current situation does not allow confident that these little-big steps we are witnessing will lead to an early end solution.
Macarena Cotelo
Project Director of Fundación Promoción Social de la Cultura