Israel removes all mention of 'independent' state in 'road map'

All mention of an "independent" Palestinian state has been eliminated in Israel's response to the "road map" prepared by the Quartet - the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.

An "independent" Palestinian state, which would be initially established along temporary borders, is replaced with "certain attributes of sovereignty" and any such state is required to be "credible" and "law abiding."
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Crying Wolf?
by Uri Avnery

"Why do you think that Sharon may exploit the American attack on Iraq in order to carry out transfer in the occupied territories?" a journalist asked me, after we published a warning to this effect in his paper. "Aren't you crying wolf?"

I could have given him the list of quotations from members of the present government, who openly advocate the mass expulsion of Palestinians. I could have cited rumors. I could have told him that a creeping transfer is going on all the time, by making the life of the inhabitants intolerable through wholesale destruction of homes, closure, curfew and starvation. But I preferred to tell him about some occurrences to which I was an eye-witness in the past.
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Why Israel is so excited about "prime minister" Abu Mazen

Popular objections to Arafat's move stem from two sources. First, Palestinians rightly ask of which political entity Abbas will be prime minister. Palestinians in the Occupied Territories live under direct, Israeli military rule, and therefore are not citizens of the state that rules them, or any other state. Indeed, they are the largest group of non-citizens on the planet, completely disenfranchised in a world of nation-states. Introducing someone described as a "prime minister" under these circumstances is simply ridiculous.

It will not change in any way the power equation between the Palestinian people and their de facto rulers. No matter what nominal powers are conferred on a Palestinian "prime minister," he will have no ability to counteract any of the crushing measures Israel is taking against the civilian population. Respected Palestinian physician Dr. Haider Abdel Shafi was certainly reflecting widespread sentiment when he told The New York Times that, "My feeling is that people are not at all excited," about the appointment of a prime minister, since "it's seen as compliance with outside pressure, not part of our real needs." (10 March 2003)
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