It was 19 years ago when the Madrid Conference was convened to establish ""a just and lasting peace in the Middle East"". The Arab world, and especially the Palestinians, considered this conference as a first step towards freedom and independence. It was thought that peaceful coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis was ""finally"" at hand.

The then prime minister of Israel, after being pushed by president George H.W. Bush to attend the peace conference, viewed the negotiations as a delaying tactic to avoid any peaceful agreement with the Palestinians by saying: ""Well, we will keep negotiating for 10 or 15 years!"" Since then, to this very day, the above statement has been the official policy of every Israeli government.
Negotiations to establish two states, living in peaceful coexistence, have become the official policy of the international community, headed by the U.S., including Israel who recognized this policy, though by lip service only. In fact, every Israeli government, more or less, has distorted the meaning of peaceful negotiations to become a stalling tactic to confiscate more Palestinian territories to build and expand Israeli colonies while Palestinians sit around the negotiating table.
The present Netanyahu/Lieberman government is not only using the peaceful negotiations as a stalling tactic to grab more Palestinian land, but has prepared ""a final solution"" for the Palestinian problem.
The insistence of the present Israeli government to make the world recognize the absolute Jewishness of Israel is only the first step to transfer the non-Jewish inhabitants (Palestinians) of 1948, along with other Palestinians, primarily those in the West Bank. A non-Jew would be an alien in an only Jewish state.
The so-called Palestinian ""state"" was accurately defined by the former chief of Israeli military intelligence, Shlomo Gazit who said: ""The state would be in the likeness of the Lahad state"".
He was referring to the mini state which Israel established in southern Lebanon headed by a renegade from the Lebanese army, Antoine Lahad. Such a view from a ""moderate"" high-ranking Israeli military officer only means that there is hardly any intention now in Israel to permit the establishment of a viable Palestinian state.
The Palestinian leadership seems to be convinced that negotiating with the present Israeli government has become an act of absolute futility. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, summed up the futility in continuing negotiations with Israel by saying: ""The dissolution of the Palestinian National Authority will be a last resort solution if we do not reach the two-state solution by the end of this year"".
The dissolution of PNA has been in the minds of Palestinians, but only as a second step. The first step is to go to the United Nations Security Council so that the international community, especially the US, have to face their responsibility and their obligations towards what is being done daily by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories.
If the Security Council fails to do its duty to make Israel respect and adhere to the dictate of international law, pertaining to occupied territories, then, the only solution left would be ""the dissolution of the PNA"". And let Israel then deal directly with its occupation of Palestinian land.
At this stage, Palestinians would follow and employ other ways to fulfill their national aspirations and to attain their legal rights and civil liberties. Palestinians are being taxed and their territories are being annexed by the Israeli Parliament without giving Palestinians civil rights to be represented in the Knesset.
Palestinians, at this stage, would want to join with what little is left from Palestine with their annexed occupied land which is now considered part of Israel. If not, Palestinians would be ""ready"" to be ""officially"" annexed by Israel as part of a ""one state solution"" that is ruled by one law in which all inhabitants are equally treated.
The Palestinian president assumed presidency of the PNA for the sake of establishing an independent Palestinian state. The very reason for him to stay at the head of the authority has been negated by Israel leading him to allude to ""the dissolution of the PNA"".
The PNA is being accused of ""providing legal cover"" for Israel to complete its annexation of Palestinian territories ""with impunity in return of staying in authority"". This severe accusation is taking hold in the Arab street and in the Islamic world. The PNA's honor is on the line. The world has to prepare itself when the gates of hell open after failure of ""peaceful settlement"" is announced by ""the dissolution of the PNA"".
Professor As'ad Abdul Rahman is the Chairman of the Palestinian Encyclopedia.
(Source: Gulf News)