It is fine with most people. Ordinary people queue up for a work permit in Israel or a Jewish settlement, although our work is different and we oppose all forms of Israeli occupation and settlements. Some people oppose our work with Israelis. Some of these people may have ideological reasons for their opposition, which is quite rare, while for others it is more out of personal interests. In general, when I work towards preserving the Palestinian environment, I am primarily serving the Palestinian people. It is natural that the other side may indirectly benefit from our work. Any improvement in the environment on either side will have a positive effect on both sides, while deterioration in environmental conditions will harm us both as well. Air pollution in Israel eventually reaches the Palestinian Territories, and cleaning up the air in Tel Aviv and Hadera will let us breathe clean air in the West Bank. We work according to a Palestinian agenda. My priority is to serve my people and environment. Our programs are designed to create a common clean environment while we work on this side and our Israeli counterparts supplement our work on the Israeli side. This is how we all work towards creating a healthy and balanced eco-system. At the time of Israeli incursions we find it difficult to talk about such issues. We do carry on with some projects, but you really can't talk about peace at the same time the Israeli military machine is destroying everything. After 1996 and the rise to power of Benjamin Netanyahu, we have witnessed the death of the peace process. The Oslo project is over, even the chairman of the Arab League says so, and so do many, many others. In reality the Oslo agreement has brought the Palestinian people nothing but destruction and the worst kind of occupation and oppression. The Palestinian people were better off before Oslo, and many people would now agree that the PA is actively taking part in the occupation. We are still an occupied people, members of our parliament and some of our ministers are behind bars, and our elected authorities are severely restricted and threatened. In reality the occupation hasn't changed, on the contrary, it has worsened. Any Palestinian will tell you that life after Oslo has become much harder than it was before. At the moment the PA carries many of the responsibilities that were previously in the hands of the occupation, such as healthcare and education.
These are large burdens, financially and otherwise. Before Oslo, Israel was obliged to provide work, healthcare etc., because these are the responsibilities of the occupation, but now the PA bares these responsibilities. We have recently begun hearing people dismissing the PA altogether, because in reality it is restricted and does nothing. This isn't a recent development since Hamas won the elections, but was the case before. The reason Oslo failed was because it didn't bring any change to the lives of Palestinians. Palestinians didn't get to enjoy the fruits of peace they were expecting, and this is the result. If there had been an improvement in Palestinians' daily life and had we felt the benefits of peace, freedom and financial development, the situation today may have been different. Oslo produced a different outcome than what Palestinians expected and hoped for. This is the reason for the continuation of the conflict and the general deterioration we see all around us. We have found ourselves in dire straits.