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Obama’s Middle East breakthrough? Dream on
Our correspondent reports from Ramallah and Jesusalem on the reality behind the high-falutin diplomacy
News of Barack Obama's apparent breakthrough in the Middle East peace process makes for great copy, but the announcement's beauty is only skin deep. His 'success' simply amounts to having forced Prime Minister Netanyahu to agree to a freeze in settlement construction as a means to get both sides - Israelis and Palestinians - to the negotiating table.
While any kind of concession on the part of the hardline Israeli government must be seen as a positive sign, past form is the best guide as to how the latest round of peace talks will ultimately pan out.
Successive Israeli, Palestinian and international politicians have come, seen, and failed to conquer the seemingly insurmountable obstacles on the path to a true and lasting resolution to the conflict. Despite all the fanfare surrounding Obama's attempts at bridging the gulf between the two sides, the fact that Netanyahu has dug his heels in so hard at the first hurdle - settlement construction - indicates the near impossible task that lies ahead.
Obama squeezing a temporary cessation to settlement building like blood from a stone does not augur well for the far more serious items on the agenda.
“We’ve been here before, and what did we get? Nothing but empty promises”
According to Israeli officials, the Palestinian right of return is out of the question, likewise the suggestion to divide Jerusalem and give the eastern half to the Palestinians as their capital. Yet both issues are of sacrosanct importance to the Palestinian people, and any offer falling short on those fronts will see today's optimism quickly fizzle out once again.
In the West Bank city of Ramallah yesterday, the mood was one of tired resignation among those forced to live for over 40 years under Israeli occupation. "We've been here before, haven't we?" said a cab driver eking out a living in the inclement conditions of regular road-closures and flying checkpoints. "And what did we get? Nothing other than empty promises, of course".
At the diplomatic level, the Palestinian Authority's chief negotiator, Dr Saeb Erekat, seemed to hold out little hope for rapprochement between the opposing camps: "Whether it's Avigdor Lieberman, Moshe Ya'alon or Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel is sending mixed messages about peace, and US efforts to restart negotiations. There is no unified approach and little coordination. This suggests that peace is not a high priority for the Israeli government."
He still insisted that peace was possible, but only if Israel made serious efforts to right the decades-old wrongs in the Occupied Territories. "As time goes by, Israel's intransigence does little to inspire much confidence that it is genuinely willing to take the necessary steps towards real peace."
Erekat said the outcome of Wednesday's meeting in London between Netanyahu and US envoy George Mitchell - designed to hammer out details of the Obama-brokered peace talks - would "hinge on whether Israel wants to play a constructive role in efforts to restart negotiations, and whether it intends to be a genuine partner for peace".
President Obama reportedly wants to announce his 'breakthrough' peace talks sometime in September, flanked by Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. He then hopes to have a final peace agreement negotiated within two years.
Crossing back into Israel yesterday via the labyrinthine Qalandiya checkpoint, I watched scores of Palestinians being herded from pillar to post at the whim of stern-faced Israeli soldiers. Suspicion, enmity and hostility hung low in the air like thick fog. Obama's wish sounded fanciful to the say the least. ·
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First, s. sands, where ever do you get the idea that the Palestinians left of there own free will?! To deny the autrocities committed by the israeli army during that period is as evil as denying the holocaust, and it has been proven, beyond a shadow of doubt, that no such order took place. stop using urban myth as a basis for argument
and p. leamon; do you really want to base israeli claims on palestine on a book that is so full of errors and contradictions? please!! if the israelis only want a bit of land, why were they not given a piece of europe? it was, after all the europeans who gave the jews the worst time, not to mention , 80% of jews today are of european descent, not middle eastern at all. does bibi really look semitic to you?
and finally, to n folkes; a few things for you to concider, 1. hamas is the legitimate government of palestine, 2. according to the geneva convention, the palistinians (like everyone else)have a right to fight against colonial powers,(and israel certianly is a colonial power, and 3. according to that same document, they can use whatever means they see fit to fight said colonial power. just because the media (and others) call an organization "terrorist" does not make it so.
you all need to investigate the facts behind this genocide before you start piping in with ignorant comments. Whether you realize it or not, israel is your enemy too
At the end of the day both sides are playing a con. The Palestinians want all their brethrem to return to Israel so that there will not be a Jewish State any more and The Jewish Sate which is only a little bigger than the tiny state of East Timor does not want to commit National Suicide so is trying to string it out as long as possible in the hope that the world will have its own Eco Disaster first and then let Israel live in Peace.
The problem is the Land of Israel which is not much bigger than the tiny state of East Timor is too small to share between two very competeing peoples. I hope the world does end quickly because Humanity does not seem to want to let the Jews have their own county. All the Jewish People want is what was given to them according to the Bible, actually less, they are not asking for Trans Jordan. The Arabs are a greedy bunch they have so much Land, all of North Africa and Arabia. Let the Jews Live in Peace in their land which is not much bigger than the tiny state of East Timor or the County of Yorkshire.
Wow Peter, are you a Hamas apologetic or just a simple liberal dimwit? How could any logical person think that Iran would be a better ally than Israel? Maybe if you are hate filled, don't mind the odd suicide bomber and presence of the Virtue Police and yes the Islamic Republic of Iran would make an ideal ally. Then you go on to blame the US administration for not recognising a terrorist organiation and their right to govern through fear, intimidation and arrogance. Peter you are the clown not Bibi.
We only hear about the Palestinian Refugees and their rights, what of the one million Jewish refugees who were hounded out of the Muslim Countries where they had lived for centuries, leaving behind homes property and business, they were all intergrated into Israel, what of the Palestinians, kept as pawns by all the Arab Countries, who invaded Israel on the day Israel was reborn, telling them to leave untill they had "driven the Jews into the sea", two thirds of of former Palestine became Jordan, this is never thought about, when it comes to discussing the present situation. Do the Palstinians want Peace, when it is always their demands which are unrealistic.
As far as the current Israeli PM is concerned, this observation from the Clinton White House seems appropriate:
"one of the most obnoxious individuals you're going to come into - just a liar and a cheat. He could open his mouth and you could have no confidence that anything that came out of it was the truth."
The only way Obama will get attention and compliance from the Israelis is to cut off all funding and wait for the realisation to dawn. On the whole I think Iran would be a better ally than Israel. Until USA recognises the democratically elected party in Gaza - - - HAMAS, their is no point in talking to Clown Bibi.