Israel Matzav

Quartet to come out against 'Palestinian' unilateral action?

The Middle East 'quartet' members - the US, the EU, the UN and Russia - will be meeting on Monday in Washington, and here in Jerusalem the government is hopeful that the 'quartet' will issue a statement against the 'Palestinians' effort at unilateral action at the UN in September. Such a statement would be important, because the 'Palestinians' must decide by the end of this week whether to go ahead with the initiative.

Israel is hoping that the Quartet issues a statement echoing one it released in February saying that it "strongly reaffirms that unilateral actions by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations and will not be recognized by the international community."

But other statements might also be issued.

Israelis officials have expressed concern that in an attempt to dissuade the Palestinians from going to the UN in September, the Quartet might propose a formula for re-starting negotiations based on US President Barack Obama's comments in May about starting talks with the 1967 lines, and mutually agreed swaps, as a baseline.

The concern in Jerusalem is that the EU, Russia and the UN want to see those parameters formalized, without adding in what Obama also said in his speech at the State Department and a couple days later at AIPAC, signaling Israel as a Jewish state and the need for iron clad security guarantees.

According to some diplomatic sources in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would be amenable to entering talks along the parameters of the 1967 lines, with mutually agreed swaps, if the formula also included such "sweeteners" as a reference to Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, and that an agreement would signify the end of conflict.

If Netanyahu agrees to this, he's a fool. Should Israel have to compensate the Arabs for keeping the Kotel (Western Wall of the Temple Mount) which we liberated in a war of aggression that was started by the Arabs in a bid to drive us into the sea? And what if the Arabs don't agree to 'let us' have it?

If Netanyahu agrees to such talks, he deserves to have his government fall. Let the General Assembly adopt its resolution - it won't matter anyway.

By the way, on Friday, 100 European parliament members sent a letter to Catherine Ashton, who supposedly represents them at the quartet, urging her to discourage 'Palestinian' unilateralism at the United Nations. Good luck with that.

Labels: Middle East quartet, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, unilateral declaration of statehood

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:10 AM