RAMALLAH (IPS) — The Palestinian Authority (PA) appears to be successfully countering the Israeli government’s refusal to work towards a two-state solution to end the decades-long conflict.

A Palestinian demonstrator uses a tennis racket to return an empty tear gas canister at Israeli soldiers during a protest against the controversial Israeli barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah October 23, 2009. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s declaration to establish a Palestinian state within two years, with or without Israel’s approval, is gaining international momentum.
“We are being totally transparent about this. We are acting within international law and according to the Roadmap,” Fayyad said at a meeting with a few members of the media in his office in Ramallah last week.

“We want to end the occupation and are preparing for statehood which is part of our duty as the authority representing the Palestinians,” Fayyad told IPS.

“If the occupation doesn’t end within two years we believe we will have a very strong and compelling case before the international community. Palestinians are fed up with endless negotiations leading nowhere.

“Eventually turning to the UN Security Council is an option we might consider as a last step,” he added.

IPS asked Fayyad to clarify recent ambiguous statements about whether the PA intended to unilaterally declare an independent Palestinian state as a result of the current political stalemate.

“There has been confusion, exacerbated by incorrect media reports. What we are doing is taking healthy unilateral action in building the institutions of statehood so that it becomes a political reality within an international framework that includes Israel,” Fayyad told IPS.

“It is in the interests of all concerned, the Palestinians, Israel and the international community that the two-state solution becomes a reality.”

The UN has expressed support for the PA’s plan. Following EU concern over the stalemate in peace negotiations, Sweden, the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, drafted a document which states that the EU would recognize a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood.

The drafting of the document followed Israel’s recent offer, after months of international pressure, to pose a moratorium on some of the illegal settlement building in the West Bank for 10 months.

The offer was considered too little and too late by the Palestinians, and prompted Fayyad to pursue his independence plans.

“We have a serious problem with only a temporary halt in settlement building in the West Bank while construction continues in East Jerusalem,” said Fayyad.

“Why is it so difficult for Israel to address a real resolution to the conflagration and to accept its responsibilities as outlined by international law as the Palestinians have had to?” said Fayyad.

The decision to temporarily freeze the illegal settlement construction has several preconditions. Apart from being only a pause in the expropriation of Palestinian land, the freeze will not apply to synagogues, schools and other public buildings in the settlements.

The completion of 2,500 housing units and the construction of 492 new apartments will go ahead. Last month the Israeli government also announced the building of 900 new housing units in the Israeli settlement of Gilo despite strong U.S. criticism.

Furthermore, parts of the West Bank including the settlements of East Talpiot, Gilo and Ramat Eshkol have been incorporated, contrary to international law, into the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem as Israel tries to keep the disputed city undivided with a Jewish majority. Settlement building there will continue.

The ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem as growing numbers of Palestinian residents are thrown on to the streets to make way for Israeli settlers will continue. The Jerusalem municipality will also continue to limit the number of building permits given to Palestinians despite a chronic housing shortage.

Palestinian homes built without permits will be demolished as Israeli settlement housing is both politically encouraged and given financial incentives.

Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz told the Israeli security cabinet that enforcing the partial freeze in the West Bank would be problematic due to a shortage of building inspectors to monitor the settlements.

As anticipated by political commentators and analysts, clashes between Israeli security forces, Israel’s civil administration and settlers broke out Tuesday as settlers fanned out across the West Bank blocking roads to prevent Israeli officials from entering settlements to monitor developments.

Meanwhile Fayyad confirmed that in addition to problems with the Israelis, intra-Palestinian politics were not much cause for optimism either and that the next few weeks would be critical.

A possible successful prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas in the near future could also deliver the Islamic movement political credit at the expense of the already weakened PA.

Many Palestinians are claiming that the capture of an Israeli soldier by the guerrilla movement did more for the Palestinian cause than decades of talks with Israel.

“We hope the prisoner exchange does go ahead. This will be a dramatic event and will receive a lot of positive publicity. On the other hand our vision of state building is less dramatic but we believe it is an idea that is gaining popular support,” said Fayyad.

Fayyad further acknowledged that the geographical and physical divide between the PA-affiliated Fatah movement and Hamas has complicated the Palestinian cause. He also confirmed that the possibility of Palestinian elections in January going ahead due to the disunity were close to nil.