Israel Matzav

US furious at BOTH the 'Palestinians' and Israel

It's been a long day for both the 'negotiations' and for me personally. I was not able to post a lot today. Maybe tomorrow.

I want to return to the liveblog in the previous post and point out a couple of things that happened while I was out at two Bar Mitzva's tonight - one of them out of town.

7:29 P.M. Lieberman says Israel did what it could to keep the talks going. He adds that if Palestinians don't want to negotiate, Israel should not chase after them. Israel's real political future lies in the moderate Arab world, he says. (Barak Ravid)

Israel Radio reported tonight whom Lieberman considers the 'moderate Arabs.' Egypt. Okay. Our friends the Saudis. WHAT????

10:36 P.M. The White House and the U.S. State Department were furious not only at the Palestinians, for taking unilateral actions, but also by moves in recent days by the Israeli government. White House deputy spokesman Josh Earnest expressed disappointment at "unhelpful, unilateral actions both parties have taken in recent days."

The Americans blame Housing Minister Uri Ariel, claiming that he tried deliberately tried to sabotage the peace talks by announcing a tender for some 700 residential units in East Jeruisalem. A senior U.S. official suspects that this was an old tender presented by Ariel at this time in order to harm the peace talks.

In addition, the Americans believe that Ariel attempted to interfere in the attempts to extend the talks when he came out publicly against Pollard's possible release. The housing minister said in interviews with several media outlets that Pollard himself was not interested in being released in the deal, which would also include the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Concurrently, Kerry phoned both Netanyahu and Abbas. Abbas and Kerry agreed to stay in touch in the coming days, with the Palestinian president confirming that he was still committed to the peace process and was willing to continue negotiations until April 29, the scheduled end of the negotiations. 

Nevertheless, both Israeli and American officials estimated that the chances of reaching a breakthrough in the talks were minimal. "We have until the end of April to attempt to extend the negotiations, but the atmosphere between the sides is not at all good," a senior American said. (Barak Ravid)

Note that they were apparently not furious about Israel refusing to release the fourth tranche of terrorists. This implies one or more of the following: 

1. Israel never committed to releasing 'Israeli Arabs.'
2. Israel never committed to release senior terrorists (like Barghouti and Saadat).
3. Israel never committed to any kind of 'settlement freeze' (we know that one is true).
4. The US agrees that the 'Palestinians' have not been negotiating seriously.

I would say it's all of the above. They are seemingly only furious about Uri Ariel talking about it so much. They have a point. I often which that we'd just act instead of talking about it so much.

10:50 P.M. Deputy Foreign Minister Ze'ev Elkin criticizes the emergency Abbas-Livni meeting, calling it "a disgrace to the State of Israel." He also adds that "Israel must stop being the 'sucker' of the Middle East." (Barak Ravid)

If this were Facebook, I'd hit "Like." But this is a serious blow to Netanyahu. Elkin was coalition chairman the last time around. He's not someone serving in his first Knesset. Netanyahu should be thinking long and hard about who is on his side and who from the Likud will break off in the event that an agreement is reached.

11:22 P.M. Palestinian officials say that if Israel releases the fourth group of prisoners scheduled as part of negotiations over a framework peace agreement, the Palestinian Authority will not follow-up on its application to join United Nations institutions. 

“As far as we’re concerned, there were understandings to release 104 prisoners in exchange for not applying to UN institutions during the nine months of the negotiations,” a Palestinian source close to the negotiations told Haaretz. “The moment the fourth batch of prisoners wasn’t released, we saw fit to apply to the international organizations, and all Israel’s claims that the Palestinians bolted the talks are false."

The application to the UN “is the first step, but if there’s progress regarding the prisoners’ release and later on understandings about the continued negotiations, the Palestinians won’t follow up the application to the UN institutions and won’t apply to the International Court of Justice,” he said.

Palestinian officials said they intend to continue the negotiations with Israel until April 29. During the month the sides will try to cobble agreements on extending the talks, they said.

The Palestinian negotiators vehemently opposed reports that they had agreed to a partial suspension of settlement construction in the West Bank. They also object to Israel’s deciding which prisoners will be freed. “The Palestinian leadership will not agree to this formula,” a senior PLO official told Haaretz.

The continued talks must be based on clear principles, such as the recognition of the ‘67 borders as a basis for continuing the peace process and suspending settlements, he said. “Beyond that there’s no chance of reaching an agreement, even if we continue the process for years to come,” he said. (Jack Khoury)

Sounds like the 'Palestinians' are trying to defend their honor as they start to back down. The problem is that they're unlikely to back down far enough. They're afraid of their own 'people's reactions. Remember Palileaks?

Labels: Abu Mazen, Avigdor Lieberman, Binyamin Netanyahu, John Kerry, Martin Indyk, Middle East peace process, Palestinian terrorists, Palileaks, Tzipi Livni, United Nations, Uri Ariel, Zeev Elkin

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:39 AM