China News Service, May 20 (Zhang Aolin) reported comprehensively that on the evening of May 19 local time, leaders of various Palestinian factions held an emergency meeting in response to Israel ’s plan to annex the occupied Palestinian territory. After the meeting, Palestinian President Abbas delivered a speech and announced that he would cease to implement all agreements reached with the United States and Israel as well as all obligations based on these agreements, including security obligations.
Data map: Palestinian President Abbas.
The question of Palestine and Israel has been around for a long time. Why did Abbas make this decision at this time, and what role does the United States play in it?
What agreement was stopped?
On May 17, Israel formally formed a new government. Prime Minister Netanyahu delivered a speech on the same day, which mentioned that Israel ’s sovereignty expanded to Jewish settlements in the West Bank. In this regard, the Israeli Times published an article on May 20 that Palestinian President Abbas believes that Netanyahu ’s move is to “repeal” the Oslo Accords, and that the new Israeli government will rely on the United States, as soon as possible. On July 1st "annexation" of the West Bank of the Jordan River.
The "Oslo Agreement" mentioned by Abbas was a peace agreement reached in Oslo, Norway, on August 20, 1993 when Israeli Prime Minister Rabin and then Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization Arafat. On September 13 of that year, the two sides signed the Declaration of Principles for Interim Self-Government Arrangements on the lawn of the White House in the United States.
This series of agreements is in fact a Palestinian-Israeli conflict to resolve the "big boss" problem of the international community and is considered a milestone in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.
When it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the clock has to be set back half a century ago. In November 1947, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution stipulating the establishment of a Jewish State and an Arab State in the Palestinian territories. This resolution quickly aroused the dissatisfaction of neighboring Arab countries and led to many wars between the two sides, and the third Middle East war among them laid a direct hidden danger for today's Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
On June 5, 1967, the third Middle East war broke out. Under the strategic guidance of "preemptive strike", Israel defeated the three countries of Egypt, Jordan and Syria in just six days, and occupied the West Bank and the old city of Jerusalem. Since then, a large number of Jewish settlements have been established, forming a deadlock with Palestine for many years.
Data map: On March 25, 2019, the Israeli military carried out air strikes on multiple targets in the Gaza Strip.
Although both Palestine and Israel made an attempt to break the deadlock in 1993, two years after the signing of the agreement, the former Israeli Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated, causing the Palestinian-Israeli relations to deteriorate sharply. The implementation of the "Oslo Agreement" has been put on hold indefinitely, and this "century problem" has still not been finally resolved.
"Century Agreement" intensifies contradictions
In recent years, although the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has continued, the overall situation has shown a trend of stability. However, all this began to change after the current US President Trump took office. On December 6, 2017, Trump announced that the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, triggering a strong rebound in Palestine and the entire Arab world.
In the face of fierce opposition, the United States did not withdraw, but intensified its efforts to disrupt the Palestinian-Israeli situation.
On December 18, 2019, US Secretary of State Pompeo said that the US government no longer regards Israel ’s Jewish settlements on the West Bank as “not in line with international law”.
On January 28, 2020 local time, US President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu held a joint press conference at the White House, announcing the so-called "Century Agreement" to promote the settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli issue. China News Agency reporter Chen Meng Tongshe
On January 28, 2020, Trump announced a "Middle East Peace Plan." The plan calls on the Palestinian Authority to meet the conditions necessary for the United States to recognize an independent Palestinian state in the next four years, including:
Give up terrorism;
Recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel;
Eliminate corruption through laws;
Stop the activities of the militant groups "Jihad" and "Hamas" in Palestine.
According to Prime Minister Netanyahu's evaluation, this is a "century agreement".
After the announcement of the "Century Agreement", it was met with strong opposition from Palestine. The Palestinian side explicitly rejected most of Trump's decisions on Jerusalem and all the contents of the "Century Agreement". Abbas also said on February 3 this year that if the United States insists on implementing the plan, Palestine will sever security cooperation with the United States and Israel.
Figure: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Israel forms a fuse
On the one hand, there is fierce opposition from Palestine, and on the other, the actions of the United States and Israel. On April 20, Netanyahu and the new Speaker of the Parliament, Gantz, signed an agreement on the formation of a coalition government, which not only ended Israel ’s long road of cabinet formation and ended the failure of the cabinet formation, the agreement also involved some areas in the West Bank of the Jordan River. Incorporated into the Israeli territory plan.
On April 26, Netanyahu stated that Israel would "enforce sovereignty" over Jewish settlements in the Jordan Valley and the West Bank in the coming months.
On May 14, US Secretary of State Pompeo visited Israel, calling for an accelerated promotion of the so-called "new Middle East peace plan." Pompeo pointed out that the United States and Israel have formed a joint group that will delineate new "territories" in the West Bank according to Trump's Middle East plan.
Three days later, on May 17, Netanyahu reiterated that after forming a new government, it will accelerate the plan to annex the West Bank. Abbas formally decided to sever all agreements with the United States and Israel.
On April 25, 2019, Palestinian artist Ali Al-Jabali created multiple murals on the wall of a damaged building in the Gaza Strip.
"Arabs long for peace"
As Israel ’s domestic political situation stabilized and accelerated the implementation of the “Century Agreement”, this was also seen as the fuse for Palestine ’s decision to cut off all agreements with the United States and Israel.
However, Trump's "Century Agreement" favored the Israeli side on major issues such as Jerusalem's ownership and the legality of Jewish settlements, ignoring Palestinian concerns. The comment pointed out that if it is not amended in time, the agreement may seriously threaten regional security.
At the same time, this agreement does not have much "market" in the world. As early as its announcement, many Middle Eastern countries clearly opposed it.
The international community and Palestine itself have already given better options on how to solve this "century problem."
The United Nations stated that it should use the "two-country plan" for the establishment of the Palestinian-Israeli state; Abbas also expressed its willingness to use the "quartet" mechanism established by the EU and the United Nations, the United States and Russia to mediate the Middle East issue, not the United States Unilateral mediation, and denied the "Century Agreement" as the basis for negotiations.
Next, where will the situation between Palestine and Israel go? Perhaps the answer can be found in Arafat ’s words: “The Middle East peace process will undoubtedly continue to move forward” because “Palestinians desire peace, most Israelis desire peace, and Arabs desire peace , The entire international community longs for peace. "(End)