Being a Palestinian, one is born in this struggle and you can’t get out of it whatever you do. It’s a birth mark, that I bear with pride, and I’ve experienced since I was at least three years old and we don’t have the time to tell you the details. Our discussion this evening is about the so-called roadmap; the ‘Roadmap to Nowhere’ is an accurate description of it. In fact, it is interesting to see the comments that many people have made. I’ll quote to you words by Alexander Cockburn who is a well-known American journalist and he wrote: "Don’t waste your time fretting over the fortunes of the roadmap to peace in the Middle East. It’s all a fraud following the contours of other frauds." I can quote to you a variety of plans from before: the Rogers Plan, the Mitchell Plan, the Zinni Plan, the Tenet Plan and the Oslo Plan. A variety of plans like the ones that have preceded this roadmap as formulated by President Bush and his allies, all manufactured to prolong the agony of this struggle and bring the Palestinians to nowhere.

In fact there was another interesting statement by Alexander Cockburn, based on the June 24th speech that Bush made last year. Cockburn said: "the speech sounded at the time that it was written by Sharon and it probably was." That’s in essence what the American policy is. Senator William Fullbright stated thirty years ago that: "the American policy in the Middle East emanates from Tel Aviv not Washington," and that’s an accurate statement. I say "this is a fraud" because it is evading the fundamental issues of international law and basic humanity that ought to be the fundamental principle of any peaceful solution. It talks about a three- year process to end in a kind of statelet for the Palestinians, a form of a Bantustan literally, with no definable qualities of this state in terms of control of it’s borders, skies, water resources. It requires that the Palestinians, at the outset, forgo any element of resistance to an illegal occupation to which they are subjected. The plan states, categorically, that the Palestinians must forgo any form of resistance and they submit to whatever the United States and Sharon decide.

The questions that ought to be dealt with: why would we need three years to achieve whatever is vaguely defined as this statelet of Palestine in 2005? The Palestinian territory we’re talking about now is the illegally occupied territories in 1967 of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza strip. These were occupied 36 years ago–an illegal occupation through blatant armed aggression committed by Israel against it’s neighbours. Besides occupying the Palestinian territories, there’s the Golan Heights of Syria and other territories occupied. Why did we have to wait 36 years to discuss this illegal occupation? Why does this require negotiation? As I’ve often said : when Saddam Hussein occupied Kuwait in 1990, nobody talked about negotiation or withdrawal from 90% , 80% or 60% of the occupied territory. This was not acceptable. There was a Security Council resolution and a million troops were sent from the United States and it’s allies, including Canada and Arab countries, to evict Saddam Hussein from illegally occupied territory in Kuwait. Israeli occupation of the territories of the West Bank and Gaza, as well as Golan Heights, stands against repeated Security Council resolutions as well as blatantly defying international law and yet we are told we have to negotiate. The two parties, the occupier and the occupied, have to negotiate? Here are the Palestinians, who are literally weak and disarmed, and they are to negotiate with Sharon and he determines the final terms of the agreement.

The other aspect of this is the incredible stand of the Palestinian leaders. Mr. Abbas, who was at the Aqaba Summit, stated: "The armed Intifada must end." The armed Intifida is a form of resistance to an illegal occupation. The United Nations Charter and repeated United Nations resolutions state categorically that people under foreign occupation are entitled to resist this foreign occupation by all means in their power. Yet we’re told that the Palestinians have to forgo any system of resistance against this illegal occupation. Mr. Abbas also went on to talk about the Jewish suffering throughout history. The Jewish suffering throughout history is no fault of the Palestinians, yet there was no mention of Palestinian suffering during the 55 years of dispossession and ethnic cleansing to which they were subjected, and there is no mention of Palestinian aims in his statement whatsoever. The fault of this roadmap as with previous plans, is that no mention is stated that these will have to be effected in compliance with international law. International law seems to be evaded, blatantly and clearly. Similarly, the fault of Abbas and his followers is that they signed an agreement without specifying what are the ultimate terms. It is unacceptable to sign an agreement without specifying clearly the fundamental issues of how they must be resolved, the borders of this state, the complete dismantlement of the illegal settlements, the right of return for the Palestinian refugees, the water resources, who controls the borders and so on. None of these issues are mentioned, they’re left for negotiations! Why should they be negotiable? This is totally unacceptable and will not achieve anything for the Palestinians whatsoever, and you look at Mr. Sharon’s statement at the Aqaba summit. He said he would "renew direct negotiations according to the steps in the roadmap as adopted by the Israeli government."

Now the Israeli government adopted the roadmap with fourteen amendments which stated clearly that the right of return would not be accepted or tolerated, Jerusalem would remain united under Israeli control, the Jewish settlements would not be dismantled. Again, the Jewish settlements in the occupied territories are illegal settlements they are in defiance of international law and Security Council resolutions. The Fourth Geneva Convention,Article # 49 categorically states that : "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer part of its own civilian population into the terrirory it occupies." Expropriation of property is catgorically illegal. And yet Bush and Sharon spoke of taking out some of these outposts. Mr. Sharon has ordered his groups to take out some of these so-called outposts, which were uninhabited, and in fact the settlers at the very same time built new outposts nearby to where those outposts were . The settlements [colonies] in the occupied territories now have about 400 thousand people living in these settlements, on illegally expropriated land of the Palestinian people, and these settlers, we’re told, they will stay there. Mr. Sharon was asked in an interview, "will the settlers remain under the Palestinian state?" He said: " if you can imagine an Israeli settler living under Palestinian rule, you are dreaming. Under no circumstances will any of these settlements be removed and under no circumstances they will be under Palestinian authority, they will always remain under Israeli authority." These settlements already have expropriated approximately 60% of the land of the West Bank and they’ve built by-pass roads around these settlements, for Jews only, that make the Palestinian movement from one village to another totally difficult and impossible besides the hundreds of checkpoints where Palestinians are daily subjected to humiliation. They’re having to wait for hours at every checkpoint. People who need medical aid or mothers who are about to give birth are kept for hours and so on. The story of the torture and oppression, to which the Palestinians have been subjected, is phenomenal. The extrajudicial assassination, the detention, thousands of prisoners detained without charge or trial, the extra-judicial assassination, the collective punishments, the demolition of thousands of homes including total villages and towns being wiped out completely, the uprooting of orchards and olive trees, are all part of the practices of this illegal Israeli occupation . In fact, recently a World Report stated that eighty three thousand olive trees have been uprooted over the last year during the Intifada. All these acts are in violation of virtually every article of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and thus tantamount to war crimes, as defined by international law. This process is ongoing. Yet Mr. Bush says we have to negotiate about it with Mr. Sharon," the man of peace [sic.]", and we have to wait and see what comes about and so on. This will not achieve any peace for the Palestinians and as I said, about Sharon with the outposts and the settlements, he went on and told the settlers go on building settlements but just don’t talk about it. It just shows you how much peace is achievable in this process.

Let me just quote to you statements from Gideon Levi. He is a well know Israeli journalist and he wrote in Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, about these settlements and the evacuations: "The operation to evacuate the West Bank outposts undertaken by Ariel Sharon and his government is a farce.... Americans who are full partners in this deceit should also pull themselves together and realize that this is an absurdity.... If I was a Palestinian, I would hasten to declare: ‘No thank you, I do not want the road map’. This is neither evacuation nor a confidence building measure. It is a deception with a heavy price." Gideon Levi goes on to say "This is a farce which all actors understand the rules and are playing the role on the stage only to accumulate more power and more sympathy for Mr. Sharon."

Evacuating all the settlements is crucial and this is what I maintain: that this is an illegal occupation and there should be no conditions about withdrawal. Total and complete unconditional withdrawal must be effected. The Palestinian refugees, who were systematically evicted from their homeland in 1948, must be allowed to choose the right of return or accept compensation in accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the UN Resolution #194, formulated on the 9th of December, 1948. This is a fundamental principle and cannot be argued about, negotiated away or bargained by Mr. Sharon, Mr. Abbas, Mr. Arafat or anybody else. This is an individual right, the right of return for the Palestinian refugees. Every Palestinian refugee has the right either to return to their home or accept compensation in accordance with international law.

The separation wall, or the apartheid wall as I’ve told you, is an incredible thing built in an extraordinary fashion going around all these towns. There is report by Stephanie Le Bens, from Le Monde Diplomatique from Paris. She says: "From the north to the south in the west Bank, the land is covered with white gashes that rip through fields of olive trees, carve up hectares of greenhouses, separate families and disfigure villages. They are the wounds left by the busy steamrollers and bulldozers pushing ahead with the building of the separation, or apartheid wall as it is properly described". And she goes on: "the way in which the wall twists and turns with some sections penetrating several kilometers into the West Bank, initially planned to be 350 km is now over 600 km."

In essence, the Roadmap, in my opinion, is a fraud to cover up what Israel’s intentions are: to retain the occupation of the Palestinian territory and not withdraw from it and allow the creation of a statelet in the form of a Bantustan that has no authority over it’s territory, or it’s skies, or it’s water resources, or it’s borders, and thus this is a farce that will not be accepted and will not achieve peace. In my opinion, the struggle in this land will continue until justice is obtained for the Palestinian people.