It's a step in the right direction. The illegal presence of those settlers in a land that belonged to Palestinians was a major cause of the ongoing conflict and confrontations. So correcting this injustice by removing those settlers and bringing back the land to its natural and legal owners is going to contribute, hopefully, to the prospects of peace between the two sides. |
Many of us noticed this accumulation of anger and frustration. In our public opinion polls it was very clear that there is a decline in the level of support to the peace process... |
One of the major sources of frustration of the Palestinian public is that we see agreements signed, but we don't see implementation, which is affecting the day-to-day life of the Palestinians... |
Palestinians were hoping that the withdrawal would lead to improvements in their movements, but things have been deteriorating. |
President Arafat is in control, but President Arafat is not trying and has no interest in stopping the peaceful Palestinian protests against the Israeli occupation. He believes that this is useful because his public is angry and frustrated. |
Security zones should be partly in one state and partly in another, and it should be by agreement, but Israel is working on a unilateral basis, |
Stopping aid, even for ongoing projects, is not a constructive idea from a development and planning point of view. It's also not wise from a political point of view. These American measures are affecting the wrong targets. |
The change in Israel is important and relevant. My understanding is that this new prime minister is very different from Ariel Sharon and this government is different from Sharon's government, and because of that, I am hoping for a change. |
The holidays will end within three days and an expectation has emerged for a possible resumption of the contacts. |
The Israeli interference is only complicating the situation for the Palestinian Authority, |
The only way out of it is an initiative to come from the international community led by the United States ... with some political weight behind such initiatives in order to enforce it. |
The problem is that the Israelis were trying to squeeze Yasser Arafat, both at Camp David and here on the ground in spite of the fact that he is trying his utmost to calm the situation. |
There was a very clear growing frustration, and all of us were suggesting that this will come up to the surface, nobody will know when and how. |
These talks are not a Palestinian affair. |
They can't benefit from joining the Palestinian Authority when they can receive more public support by being against the Palestinian Authority at a time when the public mood is very critical of the Palestinian Authority. |