Construction activity in the Jewish settlement of Adam outside Jerusalem, 02 Sep 2010 |
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"I would use the word 'concerned' about these negotiations. Unfortunately, we have had experience with leaders who yield and compromise under pressure," said Waldman. "All the yielding and compromising, which was supposed to bring peace, has only brought more terror."
On the other side of a barbed wire fence that divides Kiryat Arba from Hebron lives Sheikh Abu Hader al Ja'abri, head of a prominent Palestinian clan. Known for his work in mediating conflicts between Palestinian residents and Jewish settlers from Kiryat Arba, Al Ja'abri hears every day from Palestinians who complain about the Jewish settlers encroaching on their land, harassing them, and barring them from accessing their fields.
He says Arab residents of Hebron are desperate for Palestinian leaders to reach an agreement that will improve their daily lives, but they are not very hopeful.
He says Palestinians are disappointed with the peace process and want results. He says negotiations that started decades ago have brought nothing. Al Ja'abri says Palestinians hoped for an independent state more than 10 years ago. Instead, he says there has been more fighting and life has become worse.
Head of a prominent Palestinian clan Sheikh Abu Hader al Ja'abri |
He says Palestinians will not accept any arrangement that allows for settlements. He says Palestinians might live with whatever agreement the leadership comes back with, but in view of what he says is the aggression that Arab residents endure from Jewish settlers and from the Israeli military that supports them, no one will accept living alongside the settlements.
Back at Kiryat Arba, Rabbi Waldman says settlers will view any attempt by the Israeli government to pull out of the West Bank as a crime.
"It cannot be done and will not be done," he added. "We have come back to Hebron, which has the deepest roots of a Jewish homeland, and we have come back to stay."
Israel has entered the negotiations without committing to extending a September 26 deadline on a settlement building freeze. A group representing West Bank settlers on Wednesday, said it was resuming construction of at least three structures inside settlements in defiance.
In Hebron and Kiryat Arba, Israeli and Palestinian residents are watching the negotiations closely.
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(來源:VOA 編輯:陳丹妮)