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Thursday, November 14, 2002

By Bill Schackner, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

An adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization spoke yesterday of a worsening humanitarian crisis in the territory and said many Palestinians fear a war in Iraq could enable Israel to "ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their homeland."

	PLO peace negotiations adviser Diana Buttu speaks to a crowd of about 250 at Carnegie Mellon University last evening. (Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette)

Diana Buttu discussed the Middle East conflict from a Palestinian perspective before an audience of 250 at Carnegie Mellon University last night and earlier in the day at a campus news conference.

The peace process, Buttu told last night's crowd, has actually been something far different for a group she said has endured occupation for 35 years and the abuse and death that has accompanied it.

She asserted that the Palestinian uprising is rooted in frustration. As colonization has rapidly increased, Palestinians have been cordoned off into reservations she likened to "open-air prisons."

"Palestinians were realizing that the process was about getting rid of them and holding onto the land," said Buttu, 31, a Canadian-born lawyer who serves as legal adviser to the PLO negotiation support unit.

Her 45-minute speech in Doherty Hall was loudly applauded, but she faced some pointed questions afterward, including one from a man who said her remarks seemed to ignore violence committed by Palestinians.

"I missed the part about suicide bombings," he said.

Buttu, who said she does not condone those or any other killings, spoke earlier to reporters at a news conference in Carnegie Mellon's University Center.

During it, she declined to comment on Iraq's announcement that it would abide by a United Nations resolution calling for the return of weapons inspectors to that country. Instead, she asserted that there are 85 U.N. Security Council resolutions that Israel has failed to obey.

"We hope the United States places as much emphasis on those resolutions as it has on the Iraqi resolution," she said.

Buttu said Israeli settlers in the Palestinian territory had doubled during the last decade and that the Israeli government has continued to ignore the rights of Palestinians without any punishment by the international community.

She urged the crowd to pressure the news media and their elected officials on the issue and to support a divestiture campaign.

Buttu is in Pittsburgh as part of a U.S. tour to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the likely effects of a U.S.-led war in the Middle East. Posters said her appearance was sponsored by several groups, including the Carnegie Mellon Activities Board political speakers committee.

Buttu said growth in colonization is effectively precluding creation of a viable Palestinian state. She said Palestinians may need to reassess whether a two-state solution still makes sense or if "they should pursue the same strategies as [the] anti-apartheid movement in South Africa."

She said "in effect 3.5 million Palestinians have been placed in prison simply because 400,000 Israeli settlers are there illegally."

Buttu is a native of Toronto and received a law degree from Stanford University. Her parents came to Canada from Palestinian villages near Nazareth in the late 1960s.