Obama Mediates Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks
Published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta
(Russia) on 3 September 2010
by Victor Feshchenko (link to
original)
Yesterday, in Washington, direct bilateral negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians that were interrupted in September 2008 resumed. Their members can talk for hours about the benefits of peace in the Middle East; however, they still refuse to make any real compromises.
Islamic resistance movement Hamas is the only organization actively opposing the negotiation process. A day earlier, this organization launched two terrorist attacks against Israelis on the West Bank of Jordan. Four people were killed and two were injured. The radical movement does not recognize Israel's right to exist, and with its actions tried to disrupt the meeting, which would mean an historic agreement could only be reached in theory.
Nevertheless, the efforts of Hamas were in vain: negotiations in Washington have begun. First of all, the participants decided to eat. A joint dinner was held with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and head of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas. Also present was chief mediator President Barack Obama, and two other mediators: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdullah II. They all assured that the talks would go as planned.
Abbas was the first one who came to Netanyahu to shake his hand. However, the face of the Israeli prime minister did not become friendlier. Netanyahu did not smile, and when he was greeted by Obama, he restricted himself to a stingy, protocol handshake, which suggests that the cooling of relations between Israel and the U.S. is not completely over. In midsummer, the American leader, however, invited the prime minister of Israel to Washington and declared an end to the stress period. He then agreed with Netanyahu about the possibility of a resumption of direct negotiations with the Palestinians.
After greetings, all the leaders presented their positions on the Middle East during short speeches. Barack Obama announced the main goal of the negotiations: the creation of an independent Palestinian state, coexisting peacefully alongside Israel.
According to optimistic experts, if nothing hinders the negotiations, then the goal set by the American president can be achieved in only a year. However, on the peace path, analysts-cum-pessimists remind us that many controversial issues need to be solved, including the moratorium on the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank of Jordan that expires on Sept. 26, the lack of clear boundaries between Palestinians and Israelis and the problem of the return of the Palestinian refugees to the territories now occupied by Israel.
Netanyahu began his visit to Washington with the following recognition: Israel must "share the common land of our forefathers with other nations." In addition, the prime minister declared the goal of not achieving a short truce but rather the conclusion of a lasting peace that would benefit both parties. On the possibility of extending the moratorium, he was tactfully silent, although the day before, he told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the ban on construction is unlikely to be renewed.
Abbas also said nothing about the new moratorium, but once again called on his counterparts to fulfill obligations under international law.
Meanwhile, the maximum concessions that the Israeli government is willing to undertake are far less than the minimum which the Palestinians could accept. And this, at the current moment, is the principal bad news for Washington.
Islamic resistance movement Hamas is the only organization actively opposing the negotiation process. A day earlier, this organization launched two terrorist attacks against Israelis on the West Bank of Jordan. Four people were killed and two were injured. The radical movement does not recognize Israel's right to exist, and with its actions tried to disrupt the meeting, which would mean an historic agreement could only be reached in theory.
Nevertheless, the efforts of Hamas were in vain: negotiations in Washington have begun. First of all, the participants decided to eat. A joint dinner was held with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and head of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas. Also present was chief mediator President Barack Obama, and two other mediators: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdullah II. They all assured that the talks would go as planned.
Abbas was the first one who came to Netanyahu to shake his hand. However, the face of the Israeli prime minister did not become friendlier. Netanyahu did not smile, and when he was greeted by Obama, he restricted himself to a stingy, protocol handshake, which suggests that the cooling of relations between Israel and the U.S. is not completely over. In midsummer, the American leader, however, invited the prime minister of Israel to Washington and declared an end to the stress period. He then agreed with Netanyahu about the possibility of a resumption of direct negotiations with the Palestinians.
After greetings, all the leaders presented their positions on the Middle East during short speeches. Barack Obama announced the main goal of the negotiations: the creation of an independent Palestinian state, coexisting peacefully alongside Israel.
According to optimistic experts, if nothing hinders the negotiations, then the goal set by the American president can be achieved in only a year. However, on the peace path, analysts-cum-pessimists remind us that many controversial issues need to be solved, including the moratorium on the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank of Jordan that expires on Sept. 26, the lack of clear boundaries between Palestinians and Israelis and the problem of the return of the Palestinian refugees to the territories now occupied by Israel.
Netanyahu began his visit to Washington with the following recognition: Israel must "share the common land of our forefathers with other nations." In addition, the prime minister declared the goal of not achieving a short truce but rather the conclusion of a lasting peace that would benefit both parties. On the possibility of extending the moratorium, he was tactfully silent, although the day before, he told U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the ban on construction is unlikely to be renewed.
Abbas also said nothing about the new moratorium, but once again called on his counterparts to fulfill obligations under international law.
Meanwhile, the maximum concessions that the Israeli government is willing to undertake are far less than the minimum which the Palestinians could accept. And this, at the current moment, is the principal bad news for Washington.
Israel and Palestinians are locked in a futile conflict. The peace efforts under way in Washington could suddenly take a U-turn. Here are startling facts of a real drama about Israel. Israel’s founding father along with his band of Zionists activists appear to have got fed up with the Jewish God. There was a limit to bear the Hebrew God’s unfriendliness and, indeed, hostility towards Jews that had no end in sight. Ben Gurion grabbed the opportunity when Palestine came under the mandate of Britain after collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Arabs were in disarray. Britain posed no problem to be evicted from Palestine by unleashing a wave of teror against its occupation. That done, the founding father got down to the business of laying the foundation of Israel as a home land for the Jews. Everything fell into place, except swearing of oath at the ceremony. Rabbis insisted on affirmation of faith in God. Men Gurion rebuffed them and rejected God contemptuously. “God,” he said, “had done little to deserve this credit,” The oath was taken in an abstract “Rock”, the “Rock of Israel.” Thus, the Zionists in their folly parted ways with the God in whose name they are now so adamant to keep their hold on the holy land, throwing g God out of the picture. What a twist and a turn of history. The simple and honest to God Jews are suddenly pushed into doom and gloom, fearing retribution from above matching, perhaps, the Holocaust. I have drawn the attention of President Shimon Peres towards the urgency to address this looming threat. Can the Zionists bow down in complete submission to the annoyed Hebrew God and repent to Him for forgiveness by rescinding the blaspheme and seek validation of Israel as well as an end to the exile? This, then, is the crux of the issue. The realist Jews know that they are doomed and gloom. The edict of God is clear. Jews must wait for the Messiah to redeem them from the exile and lead them ‘peacefully’ into the holy land. They totally disapprove the secular characteristic of Israel and deem it a fraud with God. What do you have to say, dear, President Obama?