Netanyahu calls Abu Mazen's bluff?
Prime Minister Netanyahu accepted the Middle East Quartet's proposal for unconditional talks. The 'Palestinians' have responded by demanding that Israel suspend building in 'settlements' and accept the '1967 borders' before returning to the negotiating table. "Israel welcomes the Quartet's call for direct negotiations without pre-conditions with the Palestinian Authority, which was already suggested by US president Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, even though Israel has a number of reservations which it will bring up in the negotiations."Over the weekend, the 'Palestinians' already indicated that they would not answer the quartet's call.
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Netanyahu has in the past objected to the idea – as presented in the Quartet proposal – of isolating security and territories from the other core issues of Jerusalem and refugees, saying that if an agreement on the territorial issue was reached, the Palestinians would have no incentive to compromise later on the issues of refugees and Jerusalem. Rather, his position in the past was that all issues should be discussed simultaneously.
Over the weekend, the Palestinians expressed opposition to the Quartet's "vague statement" and stressed they will not accept lengthy negotiations. Fatah official Nabil Shaath said: "The international community must take harsh and clear steps to point out the terms of negotiations and take harsh steps against those who violate them; but we, the Palestinians, are the only ones being punished when we break the terms. "And on Sunday the 'Palestinians' made it official.
The Palestinian Authority will return to the negotiating table with Israel only if it stops building in the settlements and accepts the pre-1967 lines as the basis for a two-state solution, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas, said on Sunday.Still waiting for the Democrats to criticize the 'Palestinians' for defying Obama....
In response to Israel's acceptance of the most recent Quartet proposal for resuming the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Abu Rudaineh said: "If Israel is serious, it must abide, without reservations, by international legitimacy as mentioned in the Road Map, UN resolutions and the Arab peace initiative."
Although the PA last week said that proposal contained "encouraging elements," a top PA official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that the plan was biased in favor of Israel. The official said that the timing of the publication of the proposal was "suspicious" because it coincided with Abbas's request for membership in the UN.
"The Quartet has lost its credibility, mainly because of its failure to force Israel to stop building in the settlements," the official told the Post.
The official also condemned Quartet envoy Tony Blair as a "servant of the Israeli government" and hinted that the former British prime minister was "no longer welcome in Ramallah. We prefer not to see him here again."
Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat also announced that the PA would not return to the peace talks without the two pre-conditions - cessation of settlement construction and acceptance of the pre-1967 lines as the basis for a two-state solution.
Erekat told reporters in Cairo after meeting with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elarabi that when the PA talks about a settlement freeze, it is also referring to natural growth in these communities and the construction of new housing projects in east Jerusalem.
Erekat said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's response to the Quartet proposal has been "1,100 No's" by approving tenders for building 1,000 housing units in Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood last week.
Noting that the Quartet proposal talks about freezing settlement construction [as part of the Road Map], Erekat criticized the Americans and Europeans for "only condemning" Israel's actions.
But we should all point out that Netanyahu has abided by Obama's wishes and that he should now smell clean as a rose on Pennsylvania Avenue.... What could go wrong?
Labels: Abu Mazen, Binyamin Netanyahu, Middle East quartet, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, Nabil Elaraby, Saeb Erekat
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:30 PM
2 Comments:
Yeah yeah yeah: Palis demand that Israel stop natural growth, stop E. Jerusalem, agree to 1967 lines as a "basis"--the preconditions point the way to demand for Judenrein Palestine to east of 49 demarcation lines--so what's left to negotiate? ah, further dismantling of rump Israel.
Israel could put the "international community" out of its misery and create less ambiguous conditions for firebreaking Munich-now-faster!-faster! crowd kvethcing: immediate application of Israeli law to Area C. Abrogation of Oslo. Recogntion of Jewish state and zero right of return to that state and zero further claims after any future agreement as preconditions to talking over anything with Arabs stranded on wrong side of international border with Jordan.
And they can call themselves anything they like. Palestinians. Phoenicians. Hobbits. Trojans. The Boston Bombers.
Not that this will happen any time soon.
The Palestinians act like Israel is there to do them favors. They want to go to the UN and not negotiate, its their loss.
Israel's hands are free. From now on, Israel should take care of its national interests.
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