The Tony Blair conference on a reform of the Palestinian Authority in London raises the question: “Can a reform of the Palestinian Authority resolve the Middle East Conflict?”
To answer this question one needs to consider the issues between the parties.
The issues in the Middle East Conflict are as follows:
It is not within the powers of the Palestinians to resolve the first four issues. They can only be resolved either by the Israelis of their own accord, or by a superior force. And without resolving the first four issues the Palestinian Authority will not be able to prevent Palestinian attacks on the Israelis, no matter what structure and composition this authority will have.
Even, if this authority is replaced by an Israeli military administration, such administration will not be able to prevent Palestinian attacks without turning all of the Palestinian territories into a tightly controlled high security, Camp X‐Ray style, military detention camp. And even this will not stop attacks on the Israelis from outside of Palestine.
Because the present Israeli government have no intention to resolve the first four issues, and without this the conflict cannot be resolved, involvement of an external superior force is required.
The United Nations must take the Palestinian territories under protection by UN peace keeping forces for a period of 5 to 10 years. During this period the territory will be governed by a temporary UN administration.
The temporary UN administration will perform the following steps:
Only after the above steps have been implemented, will it be possible to announce a functioning and viable Palestinian state.
All the above measures are not issues which can be resolved by bargaining or negotiations, they should be implemented as international enforcement of justice and law and order.
To suggest that the so‐called Middle East Crisis (that is the Israeli crimes against the Palestinians), which has been going on for the past 55 years, can be resolved by “reforming the Palestinian Authority” is not just obvious nonsense, but a deliberate attempt to justify the crimes committed by the Israelis against the Palestinian people and to allow them to continue with these crimes. Those who promote this idea are nothing else but accomplices of the Israeli crimes.
If Tony Blair wants to stop the violence in Palestine, as he purports to do, he should put forward the above plan of a UN Protectorate before the United Nations — and it will be supported by all the world, except the present Israeli government.
If Blair fails to put forward such plan before the UN, it should be put by any other member state of the UN, who sincerely wants to put an end to the present violence.