Turnabout is fair play
"Indyk comes and blames others without speaking about his own responsibility for the current impasse," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
"(It is) difficult to point to any significant contribution that he (Indyk) had made to the process," he added.
...
The Israeli official said Indyk had been informed of the construction plans, down to the number of homes.
"Furthermore, he knew that it was on this basis that Israel agreed to enter the talks," the Israeli official said. "So it's not clear why now that should be criticized."
...
According to the senior Israeli official, Indyk had "demanded to be present at all of the meetings, despite the fact that the process was meant to be primarily bilateral".
While some of the talks had indeed been between Israelis and Palestinians only, Indyk's presence at other sessions had harmed progress, the official said without elaborating.
"In certain meetings, his absence would, indeed, have been advantageous," the official said.
Other Israeli officials have previously criticized Kerry's role in the talks, with Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon accusing the top U.S. diplomat of acting out of "misplaced obsession and messianic fervor".
The Israeli official said the Netanyahu government had shown flexibility during the talks and that Indyk had failed to win similar flexibility from Abbas, who turned down ideas for a peace deal presented by the White House and refused to discuss Israel's demand that Palestinians recognize it as a Jewish state.
So who's the anonymous Israeli official? I'd say it's Yaalon again or its Avigdor Lieberman. Curiously, the Reuters piece went up after the Sabbath started in Israel. More here.
Indyk said Abbas had "shut down" after the first six months of talks, while the United States negotiated first with Israel and then with the Palestinians on "bridging proposals" to try to bring them closer together.
Labels: Avigdor Lieberman, Martin Indyk, Middle East peace process, Moshe Yaalon
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:19 AM
1 Comments:
For some reason, when I read these words of criticism I think of Bennett's voice. I can easily imagine him saying these words but not sure why he in particular would be the one to say them.
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