Israel Matzav: It's come to this: Kerry throws in the towel

Thursday, April 03, 2014

It's come to this: Kerry throws in the towel

US Secretary of State John FN Kerry has apparently thrown in the towel on talks between Israel and the 'Palestinians.'

"You can facilitate, you can push, you can nudge, but the parties themselves have to make fundamental decisions to compromise," Kerry said in Algiers at the start of a trip to North Africa on Thursday.

"The leaders have to lead, and they have to be able to see a moment when it's there," he added, showing signs of frustration after his months-long peace efforts appeared to be in tatters.

He said talks were facing a "critical moment".

Negotiating teams from the US, Israel and the PA met late Wednesday to try to chart a path forward after both sides took steps Washington has criticized as "unhelpful."

"There's an old saying, 'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink,'" Kerry said at the Algerian foreign ministry.

"Now's the time to drink; the leaders need to know that."

He added that the United States remained committed to the talks, and said that after the trilateral meeting on Wednesday discussions would continue.

Kerry did say, however, that there had been progress in overnight talks between Israeli and PA negotiators, which stretched until 4:00 am (0100 GMT), but stressed that "there is still a gap and that gap needs to close fairly soon."

But Maan reports that the lengthy session between Israeli negotiations chief Tzipi Livni and 'Palestinian' chief ~~negotiator~~ bottle washer Saeb Erekat was 'heated.'

Palestinian sources told Ma'an that the nine-hour meeting with US Special Envoy Martin Indyk was attended by PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat, Head of Palestinian intelligence Majid Faraj, and Israeli negotiators Tzipi Livni and Yitzhak Molcho.

The sources described the meeting as a "fierce political battle", with Martin Indyk struggling to control heated exchanges between both sides.

Erekat reportedly told the Israeli side that "we are here to negotiate in the name of the UN-recognized State of Palestine, not in the name of a Palestinian Authority whose inputs and outputs are controlled by Israel."

Israeli negotiators responded by threatening to put "endless" sanctions on the Palestinians, the sources said.

During the heated exchanges, US special envoy Martin Indyk reiterated his support for Israel's security.

Majid Faraj responded by stressing that the Palestinians were there for "political, not security" talks and to negotiate about Jerusalem as the future capital of an independent Palestinian state.

Erekat responded to Israeli threats of sanctions by saying the PLO would go after Israeli officials as "war criminals" in international institutions.

...

"Since Israel failed to release the last group of prisoners, the State of Palestine is no longer obliged to postpone its rights to accede to multilateral treaties and conventions," the PLO said in a statement Wednesday.

"Despite the escalation of oppressive Israeli policies such as the killing of Palestinian civilians, settlement construction, raids on vulnerable communities, arbitrary arrests and detentions, home demolitions and the removal of residency rights, we remained committed to the negotiations process and supported US efforts," it added.

What needs to be said - but is not being said enough - is that the real reason these 'talks' are falling apart is because Israel has done nothing but give and the 'Palestinians' have done nothing but receive. That's why Israel refused to release the fourth batch of terrorists. It decided it would rather let the talks blow up now than have them - inevitably - blow up in a month, after the precedent of releasing 'Israeli Arabs' on the 'Palestinian Authority's say-so had been set.

Do I get to say 'I told you so' yet?

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, gestures, Israeli Arab, John Kerry, Martin Indyk, Middle East peace process, Palestinian terrorists, Saeb Erekat, Tzipi Livni, unilateral concessions