Why most Palestinians don't support peace talks

Washington:  While Washington might be abuzz with the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks after a nearly two-year hiatus, only 1 in 3 Palestinians supports the negotiations, according to a late August poll by the Palestinian Centre for Public Opinion.

Though the 17-year-old peace process has yielded trappings of self-rule amid Israel's military occupation, Palestinians have largely lost hope that summits such as this week's in Washington can deliver on their ultimate goal of Palestinian statehood.

While a majority opposes the armed uprising Hamas has been calling for, pervasive apathy and distrust here highlight the more intangible barriers that Israeli and Palestinian leaders alike must overcome — in addition to final status issues such as occupied Jerusalem, borders, and refugees.

"Had this been the first round of talks, then we would have hoped for a good solution,'' says Reem Abu Latif, an architectural engineer. "However, this is the 20th time, and we know the result. Now we are expecting nothing. Nor do we care.''

Resentment

In addition, many resent the international pressure that pushed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to drop his precondition of an Israeli colony freeze.

"The Palestinian Authority is very small and very weak, and this is why they decided to accept the negotiations,'' says shopkeeper Ali Mahmoud. "The more pressure there is on the PA, the more the international community loses credibility [with Palestinians]."

The public's political fatigue after decades of alternating between peace talks and uprising was on display on Wednesday morning in Al Manara Square, Ramallah's commercial core.

Despite the widespread criticism of Abbas' decision to attend the talks, only a few hundred Palestinians showed up at a rally sponsored by political parties opposed to the current peace process.

"People in Ramallah stopped demonstrating a long time ago,'' said Diana Bhutto, a former adviser to the government, on the sidelines of the demonstration. "People are now feeling like they don't want any part of it.''

Indifference

To be sure, there is an almost symmetric indifference among Israelis.

Most believe that the talks are destined to fail, partly because they believe that Palestinians aren't ready to make the necessary compromises for peace. A total of 71 per cent don't want to give up on a two-state solution

A June survey by the Palestinian Centre for Public Survey Research found that 71 per cent of Palestinians oppose abandoning a two-state solution.

A majority also oppose a resumption of the armed uprising against Israel and more than two-thirds doubt that a new nonviolent uprising would achieve their goals either.