President Carter's Trip Report on the Palestinian Presidential Election

[madison2000]

http://www.cartercenter.org/doc1965.htm

By Jimmy Carter
12 Jan 2005
On January 6, I arrived in Jerusalem to join other observers representing The Carter Center and National Democratic Institute (NDI) in observing the Palestinian election of their president. At the airport I first met with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who seemed to take the most conservative and negative stance on issues. I then had a pleasant conversation with Shimon Peres. Although he will not have a specific cabinet post as compensation for Labor's support of the Likud party, Shimon will be one of the deputy prime ministers and responsible for the resettlement of Israeli settlers who will be removed from Gaza as part of Sharon's withdrawal plan. He estimates that about 30 percent will leave voluntarily (with generous monetary compensation), and the others will resist, perhaps a small number even with violence. The southern Negev (part of Israel) will be their primary destination. It will be a very difficult task, but Prime Minister Sharon is determined to succeed. A coalition with Labor and some small religious parties and the promised abstention of the more liberal (peace-seeking) parties will provide a narrow majority in the Knesset. (Sharon later won the no-confidence vote 58-56.)

When I met with Prime Minister Sharon, he was accompanied by two or three of his top aides, including Dov Weissglas, who was designated to be my contact. I received his direct cell phone number, and was to call him several times during the next few days. The prime minister and I exchanged memories of our joint experiences during the past 26 years, and I thanked him for his positive influence on Prime Minister Begin while I was negotiating as president. He promised that the Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza would be manned by soldiers but would not impede traffic, and that military forces would be withdrawn from the major cities during the election period. Without modifying the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty of 1979, an exchange of letters would authorize Egyptian forces to come to the Sinai-Gaza border to discourage smuggling and other illegal activities.

Along with Matt Hodes, David Carroll, and Chip Carter, we had a joint NDI-Carter Center observer delegation of 80 members from 15 nations, headed by NDI's Ken Wollack. My co-chairs were Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, and Christine Todd Whitman, former governor of New Jersey. We had a good working relationship with the larger observer delegation from the European Union, headed by former French prime minister Michel Rocard.

We all recognized that the Palestinian people live under total domination of Israeli political and military occupation - a situation that is unlikely to change until good faith peace talks can follow the Palestinian Authority's willingness and ability to control acts of violence against Israeli citizens, or at least its demonstration of a sincere and determined effort to do so. Our hope is that the election of a leader to replace Yasir Arafat (elected in 1996) and the subsequent election of parliamentary members in July will provide a strong and respected government that can negotiate a peace agreement with the Israelis.