Dear Brother, President Arafat,
The difficulties Barak is currently facing with his ruling coalition might make Clinton more inclined to try to persuade you to "understand the efforts" the Israeli leader has made toward achieving a settlement. The American president might demand that you demonstrate more responsiveness and flexibility in order to save those in Israel whom the Americans call "moderates." Clinton will try to persuade you that even if the summit is not an opportune time to arrive at a final settlement because of Barak's difficulties, it is at least an opportunity to arrive at a "framework agreement" which would be of immense benefit for himself personally and for his vice-president's election campaign. Such an agreement would also buy Barak time to get over his coalition woes.
Thus, the summit wouldn't have failed, since it would have given Clinton a victory of sorts in his final days at the White House, and saved Barak from his crisis. So what's the worry, then? The worry is that you might be persuaded to put off declaring an independent Palestinian state. The
worry is that the Palestinian delegation might agree to a framework agreement that would postpone all outstanding vital issues for an unspecified period, or at least until Barak regains a firm grip on Israeli decision-making -- in other words, his five "no's." Put in another way, the "framework" the Americans will try to promote in the summit will be just another version of the traps of Oslo, Wye River, and Sharm al-Sheikh.
And thus, the Camp David summit will have succeeded in achieving what it was designed to achieve. It will have turned an apparent failure into a success for Clinton and will have bought Barak time. For the Palestinians, however, it will only have been a waste of time.
That is why we call upon you not to agree to a "framework agreement," because such an arrangement will only enable Israel (as it is wont to do) to renege on any legal commitments which might force it to concede national rights to the Palestinians.
Moreover, a framework agreement would establish general principles that would be open to varied and conflicting interpretations. This will threaten to postpone and fragment dealing with the major issues, leading to a premature announcement of the "end of the conflict" without Palestinian demands (internationally recognized, and mentioned in the PCC statement as the bare minimum the Palestinians would accept) having had a chance of being addressed. A framework agreement at this stage would only perpetuate the control Oslo maintains on the future of the
Palestinians.
Your steadfastness in tomorrow's summit would reinvigorate Palestinian national unity. It would fortify the Palestinians' will, the bridge between negotiations and resistance. Your steadfastness would enable the Palestinian people to reclaim their position in the Arab arena. The Palestinians would be able to deal with the victory scored by the Lebanese Resistance in South Lebanon as a Lebanese version of the Palestinian intifada. Such a conjunction will mark the beginning of the
emergence of the Arab nation from the many traps it has fallen into, traps that only unity, democracy, and development can make us immune from.
Brother Abu-Ammar, by standing fast at the Camp David summit, you have a historical opportunity to rescue the Palestine Question from the morass it has been plunged into.
Do we have cause for optimism?
Clovis Maksoud
July 10, 2000
