British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw this week told Palestinian leaders in Ramallah that the creation of a Palestinian state was in their own hands, whatever the intentions of the Israeli government.
Straw brushed aside a growing belief among Palestinian politicians that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has no desire to return to peace negotiations after the withdrawal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip in the autumn.
They see signs that the Israeli prime minister intends to say that not enough is being done to ”combat terror”, as a justification for rejecting talks, annexing Jewish settlements and unilaterally imposing borders that no Palestinian government could accept.
But after meeting the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, and some of his ministers, Straw said that removing the threat posed by armed groups such as Hamas would force the pace toward the negotiated creation of a Palestinian state through the United States-led ”road map” peace plan.
”The reality will generate its own dynamic. If the Palestinians are able to provide security … there will be a dynamic toward the next two stages of the road map,” he said.
”If they are able to deliver the security required and reconstruction and political reform with our help then they will create a dynamic toward the two states we want to see.”
But Straw warned that if there was a resumption of violence after four months of a ceasefire, the prospects for negotiations would once again be blighted.
”No Israeli government could obviously stand idly by,” he said.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair brought the Palestinian leadership to London in March to press it to reform its security forces.
This week the foreign secretary said there had been a ”very significant change” in their organisation but more needed to be done.
Palestinian officials remain sceptical of the United Kingdom’s emphasis on fulfilling demands about security, fearing that it has played into the Israeli government’s hands by setting new hurdles for Abbas to overcome. — Â