Laila El-Haddad
Last Modified: 14 Sep 2010 13:08 GMT
A second round of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian
Authority are taking place under the auspices of Hillary Clinton, the US
secretary of state, in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Washington says it hopes the talks will lead to an agreement within a
year.
But
Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, are notably absent
from the discussions and George Mitchell, the US' Middle East envoy,
has said that they will play no role.
Al Jazeera asked Palestinians in Gaza to share their views on the negotiations.
| Ola Anan, 25, computer engineer |
"When people started to talk about negotiations and going back to the
peace process and all, I thought, wait a minute, who took our opinion
before going there? I mean, Mahmoud Abbas is now a president who is out
of his presidential term. So in whose name is he talking? In the name of
Palestinians? I don't think so.
People here in Gaza basically
don't have an idea what's going on or about what agenda the Palestinian
delegation are going to talk. So we have no interest and we have no news
about that. Basically no one took our opinion before going there.
I really doubt how the Americans can trust Mahmoud Abbas as being a representative of the Palestinian people in general.
Or maybe they plan to get the Gaza Strip out of the Palestinian Territories? I don't know."
| Nader Nabulsi, 44, shopkeeper |
"The negotiations add up to a big zero. They don't belong to us and
neither does Abbas. Things are completely rotten. He doesn't recognise
the Gaza Strip - so what's he negotiating over? Why doesn't he solve the
internal Palestinian problems first and then go negotiate with the
Jews? And [Abbas'] term expired long ago. So how can he negotiate? On
what basis? The entire Palestinian people need to be consulted in such
matters. But taking matters into his own hands, negotiating on his own -
that just doesn't work. There has to be a national consensus. He has to
take into consideration the opinions of the street and we reject these
empty negotiations ... they are a mockery.
Today, Abbas should be
talking about creating a new government with legitimacy, one that takes
into account the voices of the people, and makes decision with them. He
should not just be negotiating on his own volition, based on whatever
pops into his head and that of the Ramallah gang's. They say they're for
democracy. Well a democracy listens to the parliament, the ministries
... a democracy is not just Abbas making a decision on his own. The
Palestinian people are the ones that should decide such matters, not
Abbas. We reject these farcical, pointless negotiations."
| Amjad Agha, 42, agricultural engineer |
"I have no hope in these negotiations. Negotiations have been ongoing
for 20 years now and they've brought the Palestinian people nothing at
all. Neither the Gaza Strip nor the West Bank has reaped any benefit
from them in any way. Both areas are still completely separated from one
another - there is no link between these two parts of our nation.
Movement across the borders and crossings is still very poor. The
airport is closed. There's no freedom of movement.
Gaza in
particular is in a large prison. There's absolutely no way to leave,
except with extreme difficulty, regardless [of] whether you're a
student, you're sick, or you're just a person going on vacation.
These negotiations will fail very quickly, especially given Israel's
obstinacy and their staunch refusal to compromise or even speak about
the right of return, Jerusalem, and other matters of importance to the
Palestinian people and to the Muslim umma."
| Sameeha Ulwan, 22, recent college graduate |
"I don't think that direct talks mean a lot to me as a Gazan and as a
Palestinian as a whole. For us Gazans we are being marginalised and our
cause is not being discussed at the direct talks despite the fact that
we have [been] besieged in Gaza for more than four years.
And actually direct talks concentrate on the basic issues - those
basic issues which have been discussed for decades and which were futile
most of the time ... talking about Jerusalem, talking about the
refugees, talking about the settlements, which are not going to be
frozen according to what the Israelis have been saying. And I don't
think those negotiations will lead to anything but more and more
concessions."
| Khalil Hamam, 54, engineer |
"Negotiations have been ongoing for 20 years without any result. This
is because there's an asymmetry of power between the two negotiating
sides. There's a strong side and a weak side. We don't need
negotiations; we just need to fill in the blanks. This is what's causing
the disparity. In order for there to be successful negotiations there
has to be a balance of power."
| Alia Shaheen, 32, project manager at an NGO |
"Most of the people here in Gaza aren't even thinking about
[negotiations] as they're busy thinking about their current situation,
which is worsening. They are thinking about how to solve their problems,
their daily difficulties, such as the cutting of electricity, their
economic problems, how to get their income, how to raise their children,
and about the closure and the siege that they suffer from on a daily
basis. They don't regard negotiations as a big issue in their life
overall and certainly not one worth reflecting over. They think of them
as a silly activity."
| Abu al-Abed, 30, fisherman |
"We hear about the negotiations on television, but we don't see them reflected on the ground. They're not feasible.
In the West Bank maybe there are better opportunities.
But
Gaza's completely marginalised as far as negotiations go. There's no
electricity, there's no water. There's also no movement.
Living expenses are high. And the borders are all closed.
I mean, Gaza's under intense siege."
"These negotiations surely "neither nourish nor satisfy hunger". They
are without substance. They won't get us our rights or anything else
for that matter. That's because we're negotiating with someone who's not
interested to start with in giving us those rights, someone who doesn't
want to compromise on anything to do with the Palestinian cause."
Rightardia considers the peace negotiations without Hamas at the table to be illegitimate. It is a political 'dog and pony' show that will have little consequence. The Palestinian people know this.
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