The Arab League vote
On Thursday, the Arab League will vote on whether to 'authorize' the 'Palestinians' to enter into direct talks with Israel. Over the last week, Prime Minister Netanyahu has met with Egypt's Mubarak and Jordan's Abdullah to urge them to vote to allow the 'Palestinians' to enter into direct talks with Israel. But there are other Arab countries, who will not meet with Netanyahu, who have said they will vote against the direct talks. Sources in Damascus revealed to the newspaper al-Watan that Syria, Lebanon, Algeria, Qatar, and Sudan are reportedly opposed to direct talks between Israel and the American-backed Palestinian Authority.Of course. And of course, no one is asking the 'Palestinians' for their opinion.
The Arab League is scheduled to hold a discussion on Thursday after which it is expected to vote on the matter. Most of the Arab states are expected to support the move to abstain "due to massive American pressure placed on them."
On Wednesday, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos urged the 'Palestinians' to agree to direct talks.
"It is true that if you want peace, if you want a final settlement, you have to meet directly. I think it is the best way to go forward," Moratinos said at a Jerusalem press conference after meeting Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.But it doesn't sound like it's ever going to come to a vote. The JPost reports that Abu Bluff is going to tell the Arab League that there has not been enough 'progress' (i.e. Israeli giveaways) at the 'proximity talks' to justify direct talks. And Haaretz adds an Israeli complaint about the impossible conditions that Abu Bluff has set for getting to direct talks.
Moratinos called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to meet "urgently, directly, and without preconditions," and said that this opinion reflected the position of the international community.
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Moratinos, who arrived Tuesday for a two day visit during which he will recieve an honorary doctorate from Al Quds University, will also meet Wednesday with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Tzipi Livni before going to Ramallah to meet with Palestinian officials. Moratinos met with Abbas in Amman Tuesday.
"The Palestinians have set three impossible conditions: that the negotiations start from the point they left off at the end of 2008 when Ehud Olmert was prime minister, that they be based on a total Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines and that the freeze of [settlement] construction continue," [Deputy Premier Sylvan] Shalom was quoted as saying.They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity, do they?
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:50 PM
3 Comments:
One more time. If the Arab League can "authorize" talks:
- with whom is Israel negotiating?
- what's the point of making a deal if certain parties are not on board?
- why is the Arab League not part of the solution in a material sense? After all it was intimately involved in the processes that created refugees.
I really don't understand why Israel buys into the malarkey that's going on. (And I haven't even said, "San Remo" yet.)
Abu Bluff has gone on the record as saying he doesn't want direct talks with Israel. So the PA spits in the faces of America and the Quartet who would like to see such talks take place. Now we know why there won't be a peace agreement in our lifetime. And naturally, there will be a sound of crickets accompanying the Palestinian intransigence since it can't be blamed on an Israeli refusal to talk to the Palestinians. Israel wasted an entire year imposing tremendous hardship on the revanants for no real return and Israel is unlikely to renew the gesture.
What about hamas? As I have stated before, without addressing the hamas issue, how can you have any kind of agreement?
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