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Palestinians are 'exhausted'
29/10/2007 23:00 - (SA)
Jerusalem - Israeli intelligence believes that Palestinians would lack the will for a new popular uprising
against occupation should an upcoming peace conference fail to
meet their expectations, a senior official said on Monday.
Yuval Diskin, head of the Shin Bet internal security agency,
told a parliamentary committee that while failure at the
conference could provoke some violence, it would not reach the
same level as the Intifada, or uprising, that began in 2000 when
the last major peace initiative collapsed.
"In my estimation ... the Palestinians are exhausted. There isn't the energy in the public and there also isn't the leadership right now that could spur such resistance," Diskin was quoted by a parliamentary spokesperson as telling lawmakers.
Thousands killed since the uprising
The spokesperson offered no definition of what failure might
entail.
Palestinian negotiators say their goal following a
US-hosted conference due by December is the launch of formal
statehood negotiations leading to a peace accord next year.
Many observers question whether either the Israeli or
Palestinian governments have the strength to implement such a
deal - Diskin himself was quoted as saying he did not believe
Palestinians were capable of preventing attacks on Israel.
More than 4 000 Palestinians and about 1 000 Israelis have been killed since the uprising that began after peace talks between then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat broke down in 2000. Violence eased in 2005.
Diskin added in his briefing to the Foreign Affairs and
Defence Committee, sitting in a closed session, that Hamas was
consolidating its hold on the Gaza Strip since its violent
takeover of the coastal territory in June.
Unlikely Abbas would regain control
"Hamas has an army of 15 000 trained and armed individuals with underground bunkers and military communication centres. They have smuggled in some 70 tons of explosives and they can manufacture mortars, anti-tank missiles and other weaponry," the parliamentary spokesperson said, quoting Diskin.
The Shin Bet chief said it appeared unlikely that Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas would manage to regain control of the
Gaza Strip "in the foreseeable future". Hamas routed Abbas's
Fatah faction to take control of the enclave in June. Fatah
still holds sway in the occupied West Bank.
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