Arab League pushes meeting from Monday to Wednesday to give US 'more time'
Israel's neighbors from the Arab League (see map) have postponed their scheduled meeting to cover 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Arab League spokesman Ahmed Eissa told the AFP that the meeting was postponed in order to "allow Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas to attend the meeting, in light of the latest developments and efforts by the United States for peace talks," Eissa said.A Thursday meeting between Abu Mazen and US Special Middle East envoy George Mitchell was 'inconclusive,' which means that Mitchell actually tried to get Abu Bluff to concede something.
Another Arab diplomat, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, suggested the meeting was delayed because some ministers had asked for further discussions to forge a unified Arab position.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said in a statement Wednesday that "the moment of truth" had arrived for those seeking to resolve the conflict and that "the consequences of failure this time are too catastrophic to imagine."
He called on Israel to freeze its settlements, which he said, "aim to change facts on the ground and thus jeopardize the peace process and render the negotiations meaningless."
I believe Israel should up the stakes by saying that if the 'Palestinians' walk away from the talks, we will no longer be bound by our 1994 commitment not to build outside existing 'settlement boundaries,' nor by Ariel Sharon's commitment to George Bush to dismantle 'illegal outposts.'
That would give the 'Palestinians' something to think about.
UPDATE 1:13 PM
Laura Rozen reports that the meeting may be pushed back to October 7 or 8.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:14 PM
1 Comments:
Carl - did you read that Ynet article that the outpost construction ban was never approved by the Israeli Cabinet? It was just an unsigned memo from then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with conditions. How that became Israeli government policy is a mystery since that was never brought to the Cabinet for its formal approval.
As for the post-1994 prohibitions, they should be scrapped. If the Palestinians don't want peace, it makes NO sense to forbid revanant construction throughout Yesha for something that is never going to happen.
The only way the Palestinians will make peace with Israel is when they are convinced the Jews are there to stay and they will lose more than they will gain by holding Israel at arms' length.
And no - Israel should not go back to the peace process days of making concessions and just letting the Palestinians pocket them. If Israel has to give, the other side has to give too and it shows no signs whatsoever of doing it.
What could go wrong indeed
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