"You supported the Arab spring which was seeking democracy and freedom. Now the Palestinian spring has arrived, asking for freedom and an end to the (Israeli) occupation. We deserve your support." Abbas
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President Mahmoud Abbas meets with US Mideast peace envoy David Hale in the
West Bank city of Ramallah on Sept. 7, 2011. (Reuters/Mohamad Torokman)
President Mahmoud Abbas meets with US Mideast peace envoy David Hale in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sept. 7, 2011. (Reuters/Mohamad Torokman)
US envoy: Palestine not immune to Arab Spring
CHICAGO (AFP) -- The revolutions rocking the Arab world could upturn Palestinian politics if a real peace process got off the ground, a top US diplomat has suggested.
Hamas could be swept out of power if the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority is able to show "tangible" results from peace negotiations with Israel, US envoy for Middle East Peace David Hale told the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on Thursday.
The envoy said that the PA had yet to show the benefits of talks, but warned that pursuing statehood at UN bodies could undo the peace process.
PLO officials say they are taking the membership application to the UN because 20 years of negotiations have brought them no closer to independence and with nothing to show for their efforts but more Israeli settlement on Palestinian land.
Hale said while the security and economic reforms that have been achieved by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank are "valued" they "aren't enough."
When the Palestinian people "see that the leadership that is committed to peace has something to offer, then I think then you will see a very different dynamic underway," he added.
"The Palestinians are no more immune to the currents of change and demand for democratization, reform and freedom than any of the other people in the region," Hale said.
"I think you will see those same forces affect Hamas because clearly their leadership is not characterized by any of those words."
Hamas -- which is blacklisted by the US -- won democratic national elections in 2006, before seizing the Gaza Strip after fighting with long-term rivals Fatah erupted into near civil war, and split Palestinians into separate administrations in the West Bank and Gaza.
Hale said that while Hamas is vulnerable, it will only lose power when the Palestinian people are given a real choice between peace and violence.
"That choice can only be put to the Palestinian people in the context of negotiations in which there is actually something tangible to be judged," Hale said.
"It has to move beyond rhetoric which is unfortunately all we have right now to show for our efforts."
Hale cautioned that Palestinian attempts to seek statehood at the United Nations -- including Monday's vote to grant Palestine full member status at the UN cultural agency UNESCO -- could instead complicate, delay or even "derail" the peace process.
"Peace will not come through statements or actions or votes in the United Nations," he said, adding that such action will simply raise expectations "that we fear will be frustrated because it will do nothing to change the situation on the ground the day after the vote."
In early October, Abbas urged members of the Council of Europe parliamentary assembly to support the Palestinian UN bid as they had the Arab Spring in a Strasbourg speech.
"Today we are at the heart of the Arab spring: we say that the hour of the Palestinian spring has struck," he told European parliamentarians.
"You supported the Arab spring which was seeking democracy and freedom. Now the Palestinian spring has arrived, asking for freedom and an end to the (Israeli) occupation. We deserve your support."
CHICAGO (AFP) -- The revolutions rocking the Arab world could upturn Palestinian politics if a real peace process got off the ground, a top US diplomat has suggested.
Hamas could be swept out of power if the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority is able to show "tangible" results from peace negotiations with Israel, US envoy for Middle East Peace David Hale told the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on Thursday.
The envoy said that the PA had yet to show the benefits of talks, but warned that pursuing statehood at UN bodies could undo the peace process.
PLO officials say they are taking the membership application to the UN because 20 years of negotiations have brought them no closer to independence and with nothing to show for their efforts but more Israeli settlement on Palestinian land.
Hale said while the security and economic reforms that have been achieved by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank are "valued" they "aren't enough."
When the Palestinian people "see that the leadership that is committed to peace has something to offer, then I think then you will see a very different dynamic underway," he added.
"The Palestinians are no more immune to the currents of change and demand for democratization, reform and freedom than any of the other people in the region," Hale said.
"I think you will see those same forces affect Hamas because clearly their leadership is not characterized by any of those words."
Hamas -- which is blacklisted by the US -- won democratic national elections in 2006, before seizing the Gaza Strip after fighting with long-term rivals Fatah erupted into near civil war, and split Palestinians into separate administrations in the West Bank and Gaza.
Hale said that while Hamas is vulnerable, it will only lose power when the Palestinian people are given a real choice between peace and violence.
"That choice can only be put to the Palestinian people in the context of negotiations in which there is actually something tangible to be judged," Hale said.
"It has to move beyond rhetoric which is unfortunately all we have right now to show for our efforts."
Hale cautioned that Palestinian attempts to seek statehood at the United Nations -- including Monday's vote to grant Palestine full member status at the UN cultural agency UNESCO -- could instead complicate, delay or even "derail" the peace process.
"Peace will not come through statements or actions or votes in the United Nations," he said, adding that such action will simply raise expectations "that we fear will be frustrated because it will do nothing to change the situation on the ground the day after the vote."
In early October, Abbas urged members of the Council of Europe parliamentary assembly to support the Palestinian UN bid as they had the Arab Spring in a Strasbourg speech.
"Today we are at the heart of the Arab spring: we say that the hour of the Palestinian spring has struck," he told European parliamentarians.
"You supported the Arab spring which was seeking democracy and freedom. Now the Palestinian spring has arrived, asking for freedom and an end to the (Israeli) occupation. We deserve your support."
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