U.S. Briefs Media on Structure, Motivation for Israel-PA Direct Talks
The basic structure of the Israel-PA direct negotiations is as follows: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and PA leader Mahmoud Abbas plan to meet every two weeks, starting on September 2. There will be more frequent meetings at lower levels on various issues. The United States will watch closely, but the talks will be bilateral, and the U.S. side will make no formal proposals.
In the words of the briefing:
It does not mean that the United States will simply stand aside and not participate actively. We will operate in a manner that is reasonable and sensible in the circumstances which exist, but the guiding principle will be an active and sustained United States presence.
The word “presence” is an alternative to the word “involvement,” signaling a role as observer at this point.
Is the idea of solving this in a year realistic? The U.S. official insists it is a “window of opportunity” (heard that one before?), citing statements by both Netanyahu and Abbas — neither of whom believes this for a moment — to that effect.
If they don’t make peace now, the official added, they will face ”far greater difficulties and far greater problems in the future.” What’s noteworthy about this statement? Making a deal is always deemed never to pose any greater problems in the future. The two choices are presented as: (a) continuation of a long, bloody conflict, or (b) its solution, bringing about total peace and happiness. In such a case, both leaders would love to make a deal, right?
Of course, this is not the real world. Netanyahu has to worry not so much about domestic reaction (a real but overstated factor) but about making such concessions that Israel would be in a more dangerous situation, with escalated Arab demands and a lack of Western support no matter how much he had listened to Western advice. Netanyahu has to deal also with the details of borders — most notably pertaining to east Jerusalem — and retaining a limited number of settlements near the frontier.
Abbas has even worse problems:
First, he himself doesn’t want to give up certain demands — including the “right” of return for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants to live in Israel. (Which would consequently, as Abbas and Netanyahu both know, not remain Israel for more than a few months.)
Second, Abbas lacks the political power to offer any solution that would conceivably be acceptable to any Israeli leader, since his colleagues almost unanimously oppose such an outcome.
Third, he has not prepared his own people for such a compromise deal. On the contrary, he and the PA have been telling them daily for 16 years that Israel is illegitimate, and by waiting they will get everything.
Fourth, he has no control over Hamas, which will do everything possible to destroy any such agreement and overthrow the PA.
Fifth, he cannot depend on real Arab support, even if the dying Egyptian president and weak Jordanian king are present.
Sixth, he can depend on the violent opposition of Iran, Syria, Hizballah, Muslim Brotherhoods, and huge portions of the Arab world’s population.
Seventh, he and his colleagues reject almost all the Israeli conditions: that a treaty end the conflict forever, that they recognize Israel as a Jewish state, that the Palestinian state have limits on its military and cannot invite in foreign troops, and that all Palestinian refugees be resettled in Palestine. He might be able to agree to minor border changes, but even that is in question.
Finally, he has an alternative strategy: ensure the talks fail, blame Israel, and seek Western support for a unilateral declaration of independence without making any compromises or concessions to Israel.
Looks like the anti-semites who conned their way into power in the US need another year to make sure Iran gets operational nukes.
My fellow Dudes and Dudettes,
I disagree with this article. I mean, Abbas must somehow know that Palestinian refugees and their families will now be able to live in Israel in virtual and peaceful perpetuity. I am not sure, but I think this is good news. Right?
Next, Abbas can and will accept a strong Israeli leader since this is our new brotherhood. Also, Abbas can once and for all tell Hamas to go and jump in the lake and die. I think he has that power, yes I do. He has big shoes to fill, that he does. Huge portions of that Arab world’s population will listen to what this man says. They value his opinion. He is very opinionated.
I cannot and do not believe the naysayers. Now is the time to build upon that platform of trust and love that has alluded us so long. Peace out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km3NN3f6pYE&p=9A41A8F8F2783CED&playnext=1&index=19
The PA and Hamas have no intention of ACTUALLY achieving peace. This would end their victim status and gravey train. This conflict will never be resolved because the parties really do not want to resolve it mostly on the PA and Hamas side in my view. The Arab countries that surround Israel do NOTHING to help either.
Clearly this new press initiative is to feed US citizens the narrative that the incompetent Obama administration is now some kind of great success internationally. How do we fill up the news cycle with this crap so that people will not focus on the fact that the liberals are getting wacked in the primaries and are facing one of the biggest electoral sea changes in history. Well deserved I might add.
This conflict has become a joke–made worse by the MSM’s inability to handle the truth and their misguided support of the PA and Hamas positions as victims who feed off the daily hatred of the EU and other boobs who hate Israel. Jew baiting and anti semiticism here we come.
The rest of us are just tired of it.
Even if the Abbas negotiating team and Abbas himself wanted to negotiate with the Israel side in good faith I doubt if either the Palestinian population or even the supposed moderate Arab states like Egypt or Jordan would let them.
Remember, it isn’t just Abbas, the PLO, and the Hamas which have deliberately and maliciously kept the negotiations stalled. It is also the Arab league along with Egypt and Jordan, for their own internal political and security reasons, to keep the pressure on Israel as the pariah state of course, but to prevent as long as possible the creation of a Palestinian terrorist state right next to them.
But the present American administration seems entirely unaware of the true complexity of the Arab Israel Palestinian conflict and the media even less so if this is possible.
Are these people just simple, deeply egotistical, or are they just blinded by their ideology?
Both.
The only plan that had a smidgen of success in the past 20 years was Sharon’s idea of unilateral withdrawal, setting our boundaries and let them sink or swim with what’s left. It solves the most sticky issue, their claim to parts of Jerusalem based on their victories in the 1948 war when they drove out the Jews who had been a majority there.(In their minds the 1967 war reversing that result never happened.) But Israel had withdrawn unilaterally from the security zone in Lebanon and then Gaza and what they got out of that were cross- border abductions of soldiers and two wars. That plan lost all its appeal.
The Palestinians do not negotiate; they demand, whatever we ask for you have to give us. They won’t even talk unless Israel cuts off its nose to spite its face, freezes building in its ancient territories. The result is that these are not negotiations but ultimatums and the answer is known in advance. No. These talks are a show Obama is putting on to appease the Arab world, but they are just a caricature.