This article was originally published in Arabic by the Palestinian paper Al-Quds and was translated into English by Mideastwire. It is republished with permission.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Jordanian capital of Amman on Tuesday. (Maan Images)

Once again, and after the Palestinians reached the Mecca agreement, which was welcomed by the UN Secretary-General, all the Arab and Islamic states and a number of European states in addition to Russia and China, Israel is seeking to elude any international effort to activate the peace process and is instigating the international Quartet committee to adopt a negative position vis-a-vis the Mecca agreement, despite the fact that the Palestinian side assured once again through this agreement its respect for the Arab and international consensus and for the agreements signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The aforementioned Mecca agreement could constitute the basis for launching the peace process and lifting the unjust blockade imposed on our people and national authority. Israel is asking the new government to recognize Israel, at a time when Israel is refusing to recognize the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, is refusing to withdraw from the territories occupied in 1967 and allow the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on these territories, and is insisting on considering Arab Jerusalem, which was occupied in 1967, to be part of Israel's eternal capital.

While Israel is demanding that the Palestinian side ceases all violence, it is continuing its military campaigns and raids into many Palestinians towns, villages and refugee camps, with all that these actions entail in terms of victims, destruction, arrests and a climate of horror and tension. At a time when Israel is asking the Palestinian side to abide by the previously signed agreements, it has been violating these agreements consistently by continuing to build settlements and the separation wall. These practices are dismantling the Palestinians nation and hindering the establishment of an independent sovereign Palestinian state.

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Apart from that, at a time when the Palestinian side sought to enhance the atmosphere of calm in order to clear the way before the launching of the peace process, Israel started digging near the walls of the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque - aware of how highly sensitive this is to the Palestinian people and the Arab and Islamic world. It insisted, in accordance with a decision issued by its government Sunday, on continuing to dig despite the angry reactions generated by this act and despite the tensions created by these practices.

Hence, it would have been better for the international Quartet committee, before heading to the Palestinian side - which is the victim of the illegitimate Israeli occupation to begin with - to head to Israel and demand that it recognize the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, accept the right of the Palestinian people to establish their own state, and stop all the practices that are blocking the way to the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state. The international community can't remain hostage to endless Israeli conditions at a time when Israel is not showing any serious sign desiring to establish peace.

While the Palestinian side has exerted intensive efforts to reach the Mecca agreement, which at its core expresses the wish of the Palestinian people to see peace established and which expresses their respect of the international and Arab consensus, Israel has not proven to have such a wish. This is exactly where the international community should intervene and tell Israel it can't continue to occupy, settle in and dismantle the Palestinian territories while ignoring the international consensus and Palestinian rights, instead of always asking the victim to make concessions without receiving anything in return.