Palestinian state declared, but Zionist troops remain
1988Adam Wood 1988-12Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 1 →
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On Nov. 15, the Palestine National Council (PNC) announced the creation of an independent state of Palestine. The capital of the new state is to be Jerusalem. The definition of its borders will be left to the decision of an international peace conference the PNC hopes will be convened in the near future.
The PNC also voted Nations Security Resolutions 242 and 338 as the basis for any international negotiations. This is a historic concession from the Palestinian movement.
Resolution 242 calls for Israeli withdrawal from lands occupied during the 1967 war while "guaranteeing the territorial inviolability and political independence of every state [including Israel] in the area." Resolution 338 is basically a repeat of 242.
These resolutions essentially legitimize Israeli occupation of Palestine in 1947-48. The PNC and the Palestine Liberation Organization have historically refused to recognize the Israeli state or to accept any negotiations which would compromise self-determination for all of Palestine.
The PNC also approved a resolution condemning terrorism in all its forms, "including state terrorism."
U.S. reaction
The U.S. State Department raised the idea of an international conference to solve the Palestinian problem a few months after the Intifada, the mass uprising, began in the West Bank and Gaza Strip last December. The conference would be a prelude to regional negotiations.
Last March Secretary of State George Shultz sent a letter to the leaders of Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria in which he set the conditions for such a conference. Shultz stated that "All participants in the conference must accept U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, and renounce violence and terrorism." (New York Times, Nov. 13, 1988)
Yasir Arafat, chairman of the P.L.O., was the guiding force behind the PNC's decision on Nov. 15. He and his co-thinkers correctly see the United States as the dominant force in the Mid-East and hope to convince the United States to put pressure on Israel to negotiate.
"Mr. Arafat's strategy is to bring the (continued on page 11)
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An to the Study of the Transition: Program' See pages 8-10.