East Jerusalem editor Hanna Siniora was reported Monday to have handed a United Nations official an eight-point Palestinian document aimed at ending the 7-month-old uprising in the administered territories.
Siniora, editor of the East Jerusalem Arabic daily Al-Fajr, is a controversial figure in his own right. Respected by some Israelis as a moderate who could represent Palestinians in future negotiations, he is regarded by others as a staunch PLO supporter, if not a card-carrying member.
Siniora claimed he happened to have a copy of the document with him when he met last week in Jerusalem with Marrack Goulding, U.N. undersecretary-general for political affairs.
The document was dated July 4, 1988, and signed by “the unified leadership of the uprising in the occupied territories — the PLO.”
The document contained immediate and long-term demands, among them an “independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
The conditions for ending the uprising were tough. They include evacuation of the Israel Defense Force from Palestinian towns, villages and refugee camps. The troops would be replaced by an international peacekeeping force.
Elections for municipal and rural councils would be held under international supervision. All deportees from the territories would be allowed to return, administrative detainees would be released, and schools and universities shut down by the Israeli authorities would be reopened.
The plan also calls for application of the Fourth Geneva Convention, abolition of the emergency defense regulations invoked by Israel, as well as military regulations countervailing local laws that were in effect before Israel assumed administration of the territories.
In addition, the document demands the closing of detention centers and the treatment of Palestinian detainees as prisoners of war, entitled to fair trial and decent living conditions, in conformity with United Nations rules.
Observers here said the document closely resembles the 14-point plan Siniora and Fayez Abu-Rahme, a Gaza lawyer, presented to U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz earlier this year.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
