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NEWNATIONS BULLETIN 15 SEPTEMBER 2010
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
newnations.com
Israel/Palestine: The Middle East Chit-Chat
It’s been a long time a-coming but it is welcome for all that. “To jaw-jaw” in Churchill’s phrase, “is always better than to “war-war,” even if currently it is on the level of chit-chat.
Nothing stays still for long in this tormented Holy Land, but what are the prospects of success for peace, sixty-two years from the UN decision that saw the founding of the State of Israel? These could be the shortest such talks of any to date, if the Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Leiberman gets his way. He is insistent that the ten month old moratorium on further (illegal) development of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, will not be extended beyond September 26th (just 11 days after we publish this).
Any resumption of building more settlements unless some amazing contortions are performed, will see the Palestinians walk out - they have given clear notice that this is the line in the sand. There can be no peace unless the existing settlements problem is resolved, and no peace talks if they resume building on occupied territory, without agreement from the PNA.
Our attached mid-month Special Report by Alessandro Bruno, a leading analyst of the middle-east,reviews the prospects and the stumbling blocks in fulfilling the second part of that historic UN decision, which was to have created a new state of Palestine in parallel with that of Israel.
Unsurprisingly optimism is in short supply. Since the last serious negotiations, Palestine itself is now separated into distinct areas governed by the Palestine National Authority and Hamas. Netanyahu, whose presence despite the rhetoric, appears largely to be there because of US pressure, is within his own coalition Israeli government out-hawked by political partners. On the thorniest issue of all, the flagrant building of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, they regard the UN who forbad this, as being outranked by God who ordained, they tell us, that the land was promised to the people of Israel.
There are many interested parties, not least the surrounding Arab states who through Saudi Arabia’s initiative have offered peace, friendship and normalisation of relations, if Israel will accept the UN mandated 1967 boundaries on the West Bank, an Arab East Jerusalem, and return the occupied land to become the Palestinian state.
From a practical point of view, that UN position is the line from which the parties logically should negotiate. Always of course there are overhanging issues, different now from 1948 – currently regional concerns about Iran shared by both Israel and the Arab states. A Palestine peace agreement could greatly enhance regional security.
Unquestionably there are a whole stack of Nobel Peace prizes waiting in the wings, if these negotiators can actually pull it off.
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is also published at our www.geopolemics web site where readers comments are welcome
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