Palestinians have 14 pre-conditions for restarting peace negotiations

Restricting Jewish movement on the Temple Mount, releasing prisoners and freezing all construction in Judea and Samaria sit atop the list.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has prepared a list of 14 demands for Israel to fulfill before it agrees to restart peace negotiations, Channel 12 reported exclusively Sunday.

The top three all have to do with Jerusalem.

No. 1 on the list is for Israel to allow the PA to resume political activity in the capital by reopening Orient House and other Palestinian institutions in the eastern part of the city that have been closed for the last two decades. Orient House used to serve as an unofficial foreign ministry for the PA in Jerusalem and symbolized the Palestinian attempt to enlarge its footprint in what it sees as its future capital.

According to the Oslo Accords, the PA has no right to open or operate a representative office within the State of Israel. The government ordered it closed after one of the worst Palestinian terror attacks ever, the 2001 Sbarro pizzeria bombing in the center of town in which 15 people were killed and over 100 wounded.

The second demand is to “restore the status quo” on the Temple Mount, by which the PA means to severely curtail Jewish visits to the Temple Mount that have grown exponentially in recent years. It would also restrict Israeli Police activity there, which the security authorities utilize to prevent Arab rioting at the holy site.

The third pre-condition is for the state to prevent any eviction of Arabs from eastern Jerusalem. This is at least partially a reference to the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, where Arab squatters have been ordered by the courts to vacate Jewish-owned premises due to their non-payment of rent.

Violent demonstrations there were part of the run-up to last month’s confrontation between Hamas and Israel in which the terrorist organization shot over 4,000 rockets at Israel and the IDF responded with an 11-day operation that took out a large portion of the Gaza Strip’s terrorist infrastructure. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on an appeal against the evictions in early August.

The fourth demand is for Israel to release a large number Palestinian prisoners, including all women, older inmates and minors.

Other requirements are related to Judea and Samaria.

First and foremost, the PA says Israel should freeze all settlement activity, including building in eastern Jerusalem, and the evacuation of all the young settlements that the Palestinians claim are sitting on their land. It also wants Israel to cease IDF security raids into Palestinian cities and villages and to stop demolishing illegally built Palestinian homes in the Jordan Valley.

Another demand is for Jerusalem to give the PA more de facto control in Area C, which is currently under Israel’s sole authority, by allocating areas for Palestinian factories, power plants and tourism projects, with the latter specifically mentioning the Dead Sea area.

The PA also wants an increase in the number of Palestinian work licenses, the issuing of permits for an international airport in Judea and Samaria and a free trade area near Jericho, and and upgrade of its cellular network to 4G.

According to the report, the Palestinians will be presenting their “shopping list” to the Biden administration this week, with a copy sent to the office of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Judea and SamariaOperation Guardian of the WallsPalestinian Authorityprisoner releaseSheikh JarrahTemple Mount