'We want a cease-fire, not a pause,' Palestinian envoy tells Korea

Diplomacy

Published: 21 Nov. 2023, 19:27 Updated: 22 Nov. 2023, 14:32

'We want a cease-fire, not a pause,' Palestinian envoy tells Korea

Waleed Siam, ambassador of the State of Palestine to Japan, speaks during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily in central Seoul on Tuesday afternoon. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Palestinian Ambassador to Japan Waleed Siam called on Korea to stand on “the right side of history” in the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict and support a cease-fire in Gaza during an interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily on Tuesday afternoon.

Siam, who has headed the Permanent General Mission of Palestine in Tokyo since 2003, is on a week-long visit to Korea to appeal for Seoul’s support for the Palestinian cause and a truce between Israel and Hamas, the armed group that controls the Gaza Strip.

Approximately 1,200 people were killed during Hamas’s incursion into southern Israel on Oct. 7, according to Israeli authorities. Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza, which it says is aimed at eliminating Hamas in response to the Oct. 7 attack, has killed over 12,000 people, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza.

In his interview, Siam called for an immediate cease-fire and argued that Korea has a responsibility to help “enforce” United Nations resolutions against Israel so that it withdraws from Gaza and other Palestinian territories, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem, that it has controlled since the 1967 war with its Arab neighbors.

The Palestinian ambassador also said that the State of Palestine, as the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) is officially styled, plans to request international assistance in disarming various Palestinian factions should it achieve full statehood and Israel’s withdrawal to its pre-1967 borders.

The following is the transcript of Ambassador Siam’s interview with the Korea JoongAng Daily. Questions and responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Q. What message would you like to deliver to the Korean government and the Korean people at large?

A. First, we want a cease-fire immediately and not a pause, which suggests bombs will stop temporarily before falling again. Second, we request humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians who have no water, electricity, means of communication, food or hospitals. Third, the international community, including South Korea, has a responsibility to enforce United Nations resolutions and international agreements upon Israel to withdraw from Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem and work toward a two-state solution. We call on South Korea to stand on the right side of history and not to stand alongside a country that has been engaged in the colonization and military occupation of Palestinians for the past 75 years.

Have you met with Korean officials here, and what has been their response in your conversations with them?

I have already met with the director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and I have a meeting with the Vice Foreign Minister later this week. I also have a few meetings with members of the National Assembly. The response so far is not what we would like to hear. South Korea’s voting record in the United Nations does not reflect the illegality of the Israeli military occupation. We are trying to convince South Korean politicians to pressure Israel to abide by international law, but their explanations for not doing so exhibit a double standard.

Why do Korea and Palestine not have diplomatic relations? What efforts have there been to establish bilateral diplomatic relations, and what are some current obstacles to mutual recognition?

We do have a kind of diplomatic relationship insofar that South Korea maintains a representative office in Ramallah. But South Korea, unlike many Asian countries, has not officially recognized the State of Palestine. We believe that South Korean recognition of the State of Palestine would add protection to our land against illegal occupation by Israeli settlers, who are being encouraged by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As for current obstacles to South Korean recognition of the State of Palestine, you’d have to ask South Korean officials.

How is the State of Palestine involved in the current situation in Gaza? Are you engaged in talks with Israel, Hamas and the broader international community?

The State of Palestine is knocking on every door — in the United Nations, through international humanitarian organizations — to stop the war on Gaza. At the same time, we are talking with the political representation of Hamas in Qatar to encourage them to release the civilian hostages as soon as possible. But from the Israeli side, we have Netanyahu and his radical government, who want to continue bombing Gaza. The carpet-bombing, destruction and punishment of civilians in Gaza needs to stop. There is no safe place in Gaza — the Israelis are attacking schools, hospitals, universities, homes and neighborhoods.

I want to talk about the bombing of schools and hospitals. The civilian casualties are enormous, but Israel says that Hamas has placed military facilities in and around civilian infrastructure. What do you make of this argument?

I believe that these statements from the Israeli side are just a pretext to continue bombing and ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Israel previously called the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) a terrorist organization and claimed it was using civilians to protect itself. How can a group like Hamas, which has 30,000 to 50,000 members, use 1.4 million Palestinians who have moved to the south of Gaza as shields? This doesn’t make sense.

In its communications, has the Palestinian Authority asked Hamas to stop committing acts of violence?

We encourage Israel to stop. The conflict did not start on Oct. 7. It started after 1948, and now Netanyahu is quoting the Torah and the Bible to justify the killing of children, women, newborns — everyone. Israel is the one that needs to stop because Israel is the occupying power.

But Hamas said it would commit Oct. 7 again and again. What should the Israeli response be?

Well, don’t forget that Israel kills Palestinians on a daily basis. From January this year to Oct. 7, over 200 Palestinians were killed in Hebron, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Nobody cared and nobody asked about them.

Besides the current situation in Gaza, what Israeli policies and actions regarding Palestinians pose the greatest challenge to peace from the PA’s and the broader Palestinian perspective?

We need the world to understand that Palestinians are under military occupation. Israel controls our water, electricity, and communications, as well as control over the entry of food and exports, not to mention our land borders, sea and airspace. They control every aspect of our lives. When they control every aspect of our lives, are we the obstacle to peace? There are so many obstacles to peace from the Israeli side. Israel has not complied with UN resolutions. Israel has not complied with the International Court of Justice over the West Bank barrier. Israel does not comply with recommendations by humanitarian organizations. In 2002, the Arab and Islamic world proposed the Arab Peace Initiative, which promised clearly that if Israel withdraws to its pre-1967 borders, all Islamic countries, including Iran, would sign a peace treaty with Israel. That package tells you that all Arab and Islamic countries want peace with Israel, but Israel has refused.

On the subject of a two-state solution: there have been several offers and initiatives from multiple parties since the 1993 Oslo Accords, not just the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, but also two high-profile summits between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in 2000 and 2007 aimed at reaching a permanent two-state solution to end the ongoing conflict. All of these have failed. Is the PA still committed to a two-state solution? If talks aimed at a two-state solution were to resume today, would the PA follow a different approach from before, and how?

We want a two-state solution, but there will be no more compromises on the part of Palestinians. All of those conferences — Camp David, Wye River, Annapolis and others — put pressure on us to compromise more and more. We Palestinians lived on a land called Palestine, but then the United Nations and Britain allocated 57 percent of that land for a Jewish state and the rest for Palestinians. I wonder who would accept to live in a garage after someone kicks them out of their home and then allows that person to take more and more space in the garage. That’s what negotiations are like with Israel. We accepted 22 percent of the total territory of historical Palestine, and we will not accept less than that amount. Thirty years ago, Israel promised us 22 percent, then took about half of that, and now we’re left with 9 to 12 percent of historical Palestine, while the rest has been taken up by Israeli settlements. Even Korea agrees that these settlements violate international law. Israel now has over 700,000 settlers in the West Bank. It’s ridiculous that they and the land they live on should become part of the state of Israel.

One of the points of contention in past talks was the right of return. Israel has said that it could accept a symbolic number of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 expulsion, but no more. Is this an area where the Palestinian Authority is willing to potentially compromise?

We have already indicated that we are willing to compromise on this issue. One idea floating now is that the 700,000 Israeli settlers living illegally in the West Bank should be evicted and that Palestinian refugees should replace them. We have also said that we are willing to accept compensation. Above all, Palestinians want to live in peace, dignity, justice, sovereignty and independence.

Earlier in the current Israel-Hamas conflict, President Mahmoud Abbas said that the PA would not “ride into Gaza on the backs of Israeli tanks,” before stating the PA would be willing to resume authority in Gaza if Israel agreed to a two-state solution with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital and withdrew to its pre-1967 borders. Can you clarify Abbas’s position?

No clarification is needed because the endgame is a two-state solution. There is no other way. If Israel’s military occupation and settlement expansions stop, the violence will end.

But some Palestinian factions say they will not accept peace with Israel, with Hamas being just one example. What about them?

I believe everyone will accept peace with Israel, including Hamas. Ahmed Yassin, the leader of Hamas who was later assassinated by Israel, said almost ten years ago that he would accept a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. This violence is likely to continue as long as Israel continues its occupation of Palestinian territories. Palestinians are entitled to carry out resistance under United Nations resolutions in any shape or form they choose, including carrying weapons.

This is actually something you mentioned before at your Oct. 13 press conference with the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo. You said that “UN resolutions affirm the right of occupied peoples to resist in any form they choose.” Would you care to clarify your use of the term “any form?”

The state of Palestine has been resisting the Israeli occupation in a peaceful way for thirty years. We have not shot at the Israelis — we engage in peaceful resistance. The other form of resistance is to not purchase products from Israel, but the problem is that we cannot import anything except through Israel. We don’t have an army or tanks or airplanes, so we can’t engage in armed resistance.

What Hamas did on Oct. 7 — would you consider that to be a legitimate form of resistance?

If you’re attacked, you have the right to self-defense, which means carrying arms to defend your home and family. Israel doesn’t have this right under international law because it is an occupier.

But just as Palestinians should not be bombed in their homes, schools and hospitals, shouldn’t Israelis have the right not to be killed in their homes and villages?

Yes, but we cannot put the oppressor and the victim on the same scale.

Let’s move beyond the situation in Gaza. The PA has not exercised authority in the Gaza Strip since 2007, but surveys show that the PA is increasingly unpopular in both the West Bank and Gaza for multiple reasons. Why do you think that is, and how would the PA work to regain legitimacy and trust in the eyes of Palestinians as their representative body? Do you or other Palestinian leaders have any specific reforms in mind?

Since we signed the Oslo Accords, Palestinian people have not seen any advantage of that agreement. The economy is moribund, Israeli incursions into the West Bank and East Jerusalem continue and Israeli settlements continue to expand, while Palestinian movements between cities and towns are restricted by over 200 checkpoints. All of this puts pressure on the Palestinian Authority, but all of our tax revenue is collected by Israel, which holds this money to tell us what to do. That's why Palestinians have lost faith in the peace process.

But there are also significant corruption allegations against leaders of the PA. Is this another factor for its unpopularity?

There is corruption everywhere. There is no significant evidence that the PA has lost popularity because of corruption allegations, nor is there evidence for corruption itself. Our funding is very limited, and the way we use our money is transparently viewable on the website of the Palestinian Ministry of Finance. Netanyahu is being investigated for corruption himself. How many South Korean presidents have been investigated for corruption?

Almost all of them to date. But we do vote, which brings me to my next question. Why hasn’t the PA held elections recently?

Israel will not allow us to hold elections in East Jerusalem, which is part of the Palestinian territories.

But you can hold elections in the West Bank, no?

The West Bank alone? No. Because if we hold elections only in the West Bank, it means we give away East Jerusalem. East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza should be part of one entity, the State of Palestine. Right now they’re three entities, divided by Israel. We argue that if we hold elections, they have to cover all Palestinian territories. But Israel refuses to allow elections in Jerusalem. We are willing to hold elections at any time if the United States puts pressure on Israel to allow all Palestinians living under occupation to vote.

So, another potential electoral victory by Hamas is not the reason why elections have not been held since 2006?

In 2006, the United States and Israel already considered Hamas a terrorist group, but they insisted all parties, including Hamas, should be part of the elections. This was despite us telling them Hamas was not part of the PLO. We knew at the time that Hamas would win a majority, as did the United States and Israel. After Hamas won a majority, the United States said they respected the democratic process of the elections but not the results. I think the United States and Israel allowed Hamas to participate in elections, knowing its likely victory would divide the Palestinian cause.

In recent weeks, the Israeli military has conducted multiple raids against militants in the Jenin refugee camp and other areas where the PA is responsible for both civil and security affairs under the Oslo Accords. Does the PA coordinate with Israel on such issues? How is the PA working to maintain peace, safety and security in the areas under its current jurisdiction? Is the PA involved in efforts to suppress of the presence of armed groups like Hamas in the West Bank?

We definitely do not coordinate with the Israeli military. When the Israeli army comes in with its tanks, we don’t have weapons to fight them. AK-47s are the strongest weapons we carry. The PA’s orders to Palestinian security forces to withdraw and not engage with the Israeli military. We are against all military engagements with the Israeli military in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Hebron, which puts us in a Catch-22. The Israelis are not pleased, and the Palestinians are not pleased. But President Abbas is against any kind of violence.

Some Palestinians claim that the PA’s actions, or lack of action, maintain the status quo in the West Bank. What do you have to say about such claims?

I don’t believe for a second that our government helps Israel continue its military occupation. No Palestinian alive would want or accept the prolongation of the Israeli military occupation. The idea of security coordination is pure propaganda. The only coordination we have with Israel is regarding the movement of Palestinian people and officials. Even President Abbas needs to send a fax to the Israeli military with details about his departure date, time, entourage and vehicle when he wants to go from Ramallah to Jordan. Do you think we would like to continue this state of affairs? No Palestinian likes this.

Israeli critics of the PA allege that it is insufficiently committed to peaceful coexistence with Israel, pointing to the proliferation of armed groups in the West Bank and controversial statements, meetings and decisions by Palestinian leaders. How would you respond to that critique, and is the PA planning on doing anything differently moving forward?

It’s funny that Israelis think of themselves as victims. Yes, they were victims — of Europe. But now, they are victimizing Palestinians. When you oppress people, you cannot demand that they do exactly what you want them to do. So long as we are oppressed and under Israeli military occupation, we will do what we want and not what they want. We have no problem with peaceful coexistence. My uncle is married to a Jewish woman. They have kids and grandkids. We have a problem with Israel trying to kick Muslims and Christians out of East Jerusalem and their homes.

The PA has repeatedly called for a cease-fire, as have many UN officials, countries and international organizations. What is the PA’s vision for restoring peace and governing Gaza if a cease-fire were to be signed today, especially in the case that Hamas remains in power in Gaza?

Israel has to withdraw to its pre-1967 borders and declare them officially as such. Once a Palestinian state is declared, our state must have permanent links between Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and we will hold elections. After Israel withdraws, all weapons should be collected from Gaza and the West Bank. Our territories should be weapons-free. We don’t want to fight with anyone once we have our independence. We will have border security like any state, but we would request United Nations observers between us and Israel to maintain a buffer zone between us for 10 to 15 years. All factions should convert to political parties and armed wings should be disbanded completely with the help of the international community.

What is your position and the PA’s stance on nonviolent resistance to the status quo, such as the boycott movement against Israel, also known as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)?

We have not adopted an official position regarding the BDS movement, but I believe we should call for sanctions against Israel for committing war crimes. First and foremost, Israel should be forbidden from exporting weapons since arms are its biggest industry.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]