Israel and Palestine Start Negotiations

The leaders of Israel and Palestine accepted the invitation of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to renew the direct negotiations regarding Israeli-Palestinian stabilization on Sept. 2 in Washington. The negotiations were interrupted in December 2008. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his determination to “silence the doubters and reach historic peace.” However, experts still do not believe in the possibility of a breakthrough and explain the statement as having to do with Netanyahu’s desire not to damage relations with Washington on the threshold of probable Israeli action against Iran.

The call to leaders of Israel and Palestine, Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas, to sit down at the negotiations table in Washington on Sept. 2 was announced by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday. According to her, the peaceful negotiations must begin without preconditions. At the same time, the discussion of key issues about the status of Jerusalem, Jewish settlements, borders, Palestinian refugees and water resources must be completed in the course of the year by the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

The day before the meeting between Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas, Barack Obama will have meetings with each of them separately. Barack Obama also plans to meet Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, who is arriving in Washington for the same event, as well as Abdullah, King of Jordan, and Tony Blair, Middle East Quartet special representative.

The Quartet on the Middle East Settlement mediators (the U.S., Russia, the E.U. and the U.N.) announced separately on Friday a call to renew the peaceful dialogue, interrupted in December 2008 after the Israeli “Operation Cast Lead” in the Gaza Strip. The members of the Quartet called on Israelis and Palestinians “to observe calmness and to manifest restraint, to abstain from the provocative actions and the instigative rhetoric.”

The U.S. State Department representative Phillip J. Crowley explained the need for statements from both the Obama Administration and the Quartet. According to him, the fact that the members of the Quartet collectively announced their support for the direct talks at the same time as the White House decided it necessary to express their position is fairly common. The U.S. has always played a special role in the efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East, reminded the diplomat.

Meanwhile Israeli and Palestinian leaders immediately reacted to the proposal to meet in Washington. “We can surprise all the doubters,” Prime Minister Netanyahu stated yesterday in Jerusalem. “If we have a serious partner, we can achieve an historic agreement,” he immediately added, and explained that, “Any deal will have to be based on security arrangements and a recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.”

The U.S. agreement to renew the peaceful talks “without preconditions” became the American concession to Israel — it was precisely what Netanyahu insisted on. Meanwhile the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas stated only 3 weeks ago, during the Arab League Summit in Cairo, that the peace talks will be possible only after Israel concedes to “return to the borders of 1967 and quit building Jewish settlements,” which has been put on hold until Sept. 26 of this year.

However, after the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Council Summit held the night before Saturday in Ramallah, the Palestinian Administration announced their readiness for direct talks in Washington. At the same time, Saib Ariqat, an adviser to Mahmoud Abbas, explained that, “should the Israeli Government decide to resume building Jewish settlements after Sept. 26, no talks will take place.”

Commenting on the plans to renew the direct talks, experts are skeptical. “Certainly, the mere fact of the dialogue is good news, but I don’t see a possibility that these talks may bring practical results,” declared Vitalii Naumkin, president of the Institute of Eastern Studies at the Russian Academy of Science. According to him, this is a result of Israel’s reluctance to concede neither on the issues of settlements nor on the issues of Jerusalem.

Also, according to Evgenii Satanovskii, president of the Institute for Middle Eastern Studies, the declaration of Prime Minister Netanyahu about the possibility of achieving “historical breakthrough” is linked to his desire to play along with President Obama. “In fact, the Israeli Government is currently concerned not with the peace process with Palestinians, but with increasingly unavoidable operation against Iran. At this time, Mr. Netanyahu does not want to argue with Obama,” stated Evgenii Satanovskii.