What’s the current state of Middle East negotiations?
According to the New York Times … they’re back on track … maybe
The American envoy to the Middle East, George J. Mitchell, planned to meet on Friday with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, a sign that indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks may be getting back on track, officials from all three parties said.
In advance of encounters with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and, separately, with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, Mr. Mitchell met on Friday with the Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, Reuters reported, but no details of the discussions were made public.
The talks with the two leaders had been expected to begin last month but were delayed after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 housing units in East Jerusalem, where the Palestinians hope to build their capital. The Palestinians and President Obama were furious at the announcement, made during a visit to Israel by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and the Americans made a number of demands of Israel aimed at restoring the negotiations.
According to the Washington Post, still no signs of life.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called Saturday for a resumption of peace negotiations with Israel and said he had asked the United States more than once to unilaterally “impose” a solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“I call upon the American administration, especially President Obama, to resume peaceful negotiations and to stop the settlements and to launch serious negotiations for establishing the Palestinian state,” Abbas told leaders of his Fatah party in a speech.
“We asked them more than one time to impose the solution,” Abbas said of U.S. officials, voicing frustration over the absence of progress toward a peace settlement.
What’s interesting is that the Post acknowledges that Abbas is asking the United States to impose a settlement. Furthermore, read that last paragraph. As I’ve pointed out many times, is that Abbas isn’t frustrated by the lack of a peace agreement; if that “absence” frustrated him why did he reject Olmert’s deal in late 2008?
Barry Rubin gave a synopsis of why Abbas didn’t and won’t make peace with Israel:
Here’s a basic aspect of the problem. While Israel won’t give up everything Abbas demands in negotiations, Abbas is unprepared to make the slightest concession on anything. First, because he doesn’t want to do so; second, because he is unable to do so, since he lacks a strong base of support; third, because he is afraid to do so because he would lose power, his Fatah movement would splinter, and he might even be overthrown by Hamas.
And even if Israel did give Abbas everything demanded, he would still be vulnerable as he (and Arafat before him) has fostered a political culture that is opposed to peace with Israel; failing to live up to even the most basic of the obligations they committed to in the Oslo Accords.
So it’s curious to describe Abbas as “frustrated” with the absence of a peace accord, when, in fact, he is the largely responsible for that situation.
Or think about these two articles from a different perspective. Both mention that the announcement that Israel will build in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood of Jerusalem as a reason for scuttling peace talks. Neither mentioned that the “moderate” Palestinian leadership has recently honored a number of terrorists. That is the problem with so much of the coverage of the Middle East. An Israeli plan to build housing is portrayed as a major international incident and the Palestinian embrace of terror is ignored, or explained away as a failure to communicate.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
Everything you point out about why Abbas can’t negotiate for a genuine peace with Israel is true, Dad, but I think there’s another reason: He doesn’t want to, and there’s no particular reason why he should. The current administration gives him every hope that he doesn’t need to, that the US will continue to wring concessions after concession from Israel. At some point the US might force the Israelis into a situation where Abbas is willing to discuss the rest. And maybe not.
The people who, God help us all, are in charge of our foreign policy, haven’t given the slightest indication that they see Israel as a source of anything but concessions, nor that they see the PA as the object of any demands. When I negotiated contracts for a labor union I wouldn’t have been receptive to a third party telling me to stop or the other side would have to give us more money.