Netanyahu mulls gestures toward Palestinians to keep peace talks going
PM expects Abbas to continue peace talks and to refrain from pursuing UN statehood in return for Israel's confidence-building measures.
By Barak Ravid Tags: Middle East peace Benjamin Netanyahu Mahmoud Abbas UN Jordan king Palestinian AuthorityAt the request of American and Jordanian authorities, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering several confidence-building measures vis-a-vis the Palestinians. In return, the prime minister expects Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to continue the talks that began in Jordan a week ago, and to refrain from pursuing statehood at the United Nations.
Netanyahu's envoy Isaac Molho and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat met for the second time in Amman on Monday. Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and representatives of the Quartet - the United States, Russia, the UN and the European Union - also attended the meeting.
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Mahmoud Abbas and Benjamin Netanyahu last year. |
| Photo by: AP |
The prime minister's aides refused to give details of the talks but said another meeting is scheduled before the end of January.
Two Israeli sources familiar with the talks said the United States, Jordan and Quartet members were focusing their main efforts on preventing the recently resumed talks from being derailed. Their aim is to keep the parties talking after the three months allocated for discussions of border and security arrangements end on January 26.
In coordination with the Quartet, the Jordanians had invited the parties to three rounds of talks before the end of January. Immediately after the first meeting last week, the Jordanians announced that another meeting had been scheduled, thereby creating a sense of momentum. In the same way, after the second meeting on Monday, a third meeting was announced for next week.
One of the Israeli sources says Quartet members intend to make a statement at the end of the month, saying they are pleased with the progress of the talks so far. Assuming neither side would be able to refuse, the Quartet plans to call on the parties to continue talking for a few more months, according to the source. "The Americans want to get as close as they can to the presidential elections in November in this way," he said.
To persuade the Palestinians to continue the talks, Jordan, the United States and Quartet envoy Tony Blair told the Palestinian delegation that Israel would take confidence-building measures, the other source said.
Quartet representatives say the gestures, which they call a "stabilizing package," consist of freeing Palestinian prisoners, expanding the Palestinian Authority's control in additional West Bank territories, and other similar measures.
Netanyahu has already promised to consider such concessions favorably at least three times in the past three years, but he reneged every time with various excuses.
"The aim is to lock the Palestinians in the talks and give them a few sweets in return," one of the Israeli sources said. "Netanyahu and his advisers are willing to take these steps, but only if it is clear that the Palestinians will stick with the talks and won't go to the UN."
Netanyahu and his aides are sure the Palestinans will not be able to leave talks at the end of January, despite their threats, due to their commitment to Jordan's King Abdullah.
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do it now
That Yahoo's fear... hit him where it hurts go to the UN, gain a state and take him and his culpable reprehensible collection of plastic gangsters to the ICC.
just end the occupation...it's that simple
i highly doubt israeli officials have any credibility left in the international arena. 5 years ago if you googled map of palestine, you would have gotten no results. now you do that, and you get maps going back centuries. you cant keep force feeding people lies forever.
Abbas cannot wait to unleash what he think is the full force of their plan to take Israel down the apartheid South Africa road. For years Arafat and now him, have been preparing for the same tactics and action they believe can be carried out against Israel. There will be trying times for Israel but in the end the Palestinians will fail in their bid to grab concessions from Israel without having to give anything in return. Israel is nothing like apartheid South Africa, no matter what Abbas and his friends in the Russell Tribunal have to say. The truth will find its way to enough good people around the world the thwart this evil and disgusting move by them.
Netanyahu and his right wing allies are just buying time after AIPAC ordered them to help Obama in his second term ambitions. That is all what is going on.Abbas and his faulty regime are getting also their price on their private accounts in the US. It is all just a joke.No one beiieves anymore on the seriousity of the socalled talks.It is only buying time, nothing else.
The value of time is determined by he who keeps the clock. If I were Netanyahu I would buy time for several reasons. 1) I would do everything I could to help Obama get reelected and make him beholden to myself (Netanyahu) and Israel. 2) The Iran hand will play out this year. Once the Iranians are enucleated, Abbas, Hamas and Hezbollah fall like a house of cards. Nobody will remain to help them. Currently no one is helping them but Iran.
So what you are saying Kevin is, why dont the Palestinians show some appreciation and respect to their oppressors. Wake up and smell the change in the air..
Where are the gestures from Arabs? It should be clear to anyone, if they are capable of being honest, that after time the gestures will add up to nothing left to give. No understanding, no peace, no Israel.
Gosh, remind me again who is the occupier, and who are the occupied......
so. and what gesture are the palestininians to show that they no longer need to be occupied. clue their leadership praising mass murdererers is not one of them
. . . isn't that so perfectly clear to everyone by now? What is the point of this charade? Who is trying to convince whom?
After the US election there are several options: the main one being to eliminate Iran as an issue, thereby collapsing the PalArab House of Cards. At that point there is no need to negotiate. The PalArabs will have nothing and they will take whatever they can get, which will be nothing. Neither Obama or Netanyahus are juniors in this card game and they hold the trump cards.
Even with all her might the USA can not take on Iran alone, and no-one else will back them. Israel in spite of her numerous nuclear weapons is not capable of defeating Iran. Russia has to much invested in Iran to allow an invasion. China depends to heavily on Iranian oil and is looking toward to being able to exploit Irans natural resourses to allow an invasion. There are too many independant countries around the world who are willing to deal with Iran for sanctions to work. Europeans can't continue sanctions for very long. One last thing, the people of the world, not the governments, but the people want Iran to help Palestinians in their quest to get out from under Israels thumb.
Only once Hamas and PLO do not exist will peace have a chance.
Because if Israel bans the PLO then the PLO will, of course, cease to exist. How very ostrich of you, Chaim....
...into concessions. And also has to provide window dressing as if it was his great idea. What a charade.
It did so in 1993. But ***how*** Israel decides to spend its existence is for the Israelis to declare, not for Abbas to decide.
... everything has been said and unsaid at one time or another... just get going anew, peace-wards!
The Palestinian pessimism over talks, but showing up to be told no statehood. The Israeli optimism in the face of knowing the Palestinians seek statehood that Israel's government is unwilling to agree to. And Lieberman saying that talks are a waste of time, but he is Foreign Minister of one of the parties talking. And why the Quartet persists in the face of this makes no sense at all.
... and why Lieberman is still walking around as a free man making mischief, while serious indictments buzz around him.
Netanyahu has to offer a lot more than "mulling" to jump-start the peace-talks again. Concrete and viable gestures of concession and compromise are needed in order to demonstrate his sincere willingness to engage in fruitful negotiations - and cessation of his provocative, counter-productive continuous announcements of plans for more settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is the most crucial of those gestures of good will.
No more concessions
If one wants peace, is the way to achieve it by saying, "we won't do anything to encourage them, but we are willing to talk." Been there, done that.
Stop wasting time. This government is not interested in peace, go to the UN. Get international support.
I doubt very much that anything short of a complete withdrawal from the West Bank would build Palestinian confidence in Netanyahu! LMAO! You've GOT to be kidding?
Just more the same old game that Israel loves to string you along with...and it becomes even more glaringly apparent coming from THIS government...which has absolutely NO intention of reaching an agreement with you!
....has already been "gestured" by Lieberman when he flashed the bird to the Palestinians.
Nothing stops you from doing exactly that i.e. withdraw and THEN negotiate, because then it will be two states negotiating on how to come to terms with each other's existence. Rather than now, when it is one state mulling wether to allow another state to be created (and finding, not surprisingly, that it rather prefers that it didn't).
Nothing stops the IDF from withdrawing behind the Green Line so that Netanyahu can negotiate from there. Doing that does **not** signify that Israel is recognizing that line as a border, merely as what it is and was always meant to be i.e. a line of separation between the IDF and Everyone Else.
I'm not sure that "gestures" would get anything in return other than just give more advantages to the Palestinians while getting nothing in return
If anyone thought that there was any chance that netanyahu would evacuate so much as one settlement his coalition would fall apart and the settlers woudl revolt. Nobody can take peace talks seriously unless the Israeli leader says very clearly that most settlement will be evacuated as part of a final peace plan. If he can't even bring himself to say the words, then there is no question of him doing the deed.
There is only one "gesture" Netanyahu can make that would justify further peace talks. He must tell the Palestinians that Israel is ready to withdraw from most or all of the settlements as part of a final peace agreement. Is Israel is not ready to do this then any further peace talks are simply more fakery.
Arrogant Israelis don't understand their position in the world.
Abbas isn't stupid enough to fall for this old ploy - especially not when coming from your buddy Bibi
Save this in few years this will be the only and a true solution for the two people had enough blood in their count. Peace. Sholom. Salaam.
You seem to have missed the historical point of Israel.
Even a bi-national state has an exclusive character which is not at all ideal. How about all the people who are not part of either of the two privileged nations? And why legally, politically define people as part of an ethnic "nation" instead of simply being equal citizens? I appreciate the positive intent behind the idea of "bi-national", but really think the idea doesn't go far enough. As long as we're sharing ideals, let's really project the true ideal, not a half-measure.
Your intentions are idealistic. We should live in one world country and all holds hands but the reality does not support your hope.
But the in 2007 the balestinians already achieved two states. One in Gaza and the other in Ramallah. What else are they still looking for.?. These states have been working just fine, serving their interests, all that is needed is for them to be streghtened.
Meetings are always a good idea!
Palestinians , you should give back the land to Jewish People. Immediately!
just let the 'pals' walk. There is no point to talking to them anymore. All they understand is force.
The best that Netanyahu can offer without risking the implosion of his cabinet is the interim agreement which the Palestinians rejected last year. They are unlikely to accept it this year, particularly since the first casualty of such a debacle would be the collapse of the much hoped for reconciliation with Hamas. The reconciliation is one of the most highly cherished hopes of the Palestinian people, and if Abu Mazin were to sacrifice it for another useless round of talks, the Palestinians would see him as the spoiler this time, not Hamas. It doesn’t take a genius to understand this, and Netanyahu is a fool to think his offer will work. But then he would still be able to convince the gullible Israelis and Jews everywhere that he did his best and it is all the fault of the cussed Palestinians.
Unfortunately that is true. Netanyahu can't really do too much as he is pretty much torn in multiple ways due to what his coalition is made up. But it's quite likely that he won't produce any real good will gestures for whatever reason. He would have trouble getting support from Lieberman's radical opinions in the first place. But these current talks are somewhat low key anyway and whatever gestures may be given will probably reflect this
Netanyahu orders the IDF to withdraw from the occupied territories, and then announces his willingness to negotiate with the state of Palestine from *that* position i.e. two states living side-by-side, negotiating a peace treaty that ends all conflict between them.
So by your logic Ben Gurion was "Mr. Naive".
what a wonderful way of perpetuating continual war. if israel concedes the west bank it has nothing to offer the palestiniians to sign a peace treaty
the terrorists on the other side of the security fence are building bombs
israel reject a palestinian state.
Most likely Netanyahu will offer a few palliatives (the hilltops, IDF violations in A and B, some concessions in C, more quotas for Palestinian workers); in return he will ask Abu Mazin to keep the freeze on the UN bid and return to negotiations. If Netanyahu gets what he is playing for, the Americans would likely reduce their pressure on him to make far-reaching concessions to the Palestinians. They would have obtained their immediate aim, which is to avoid being drawn into the ICC in defense of Israel, and Bibi would be able to keep playing his reruns as before and will stay in office till the natural end of the Knesset term. The ball is in Abu Mazin’s court: Will he continue to insist on the construction freeze and demand a map. I can understand now why Mahmoud Zahhar warned Abu Mazin just a few hours ago that betting on peace talks with Israel rather than reconciling Fatah with Hamas would end in grief. It surely will
I hope the Palestinians don't fall for the few "sweets" that Netanyahu wants to throw them. The Israeli's cannot be trusted and the US administration is only dragging them along for the election in November. The only options for the PALS is going to the Security Council for statehood or the GA for upgraded status, dragging Israel into the ICC, forcing the US to isolate themselves even more by vetoing a settlement resolution, and putting pressure on Israel by the international community. Giving in to the US and the Quartet will never get the PA anywhere. They will get screwed again!
vis a viis the palestinians. Oh , maybe , Netanyahu will turn on huge fans to blow air on the West bank and Gaza.
This PM is so yellow, it's unreal.
but your answer lies in the second sentence of the article. Perhaps you didn't bother to read that far but Netanyahu's reward is a continuation of talks in lieu of pressure on the settlements and pressure at the UN. Israel may feel that it is bulletproof, but as South Africa found, being an international pariah has its consequences.
This is more USA jewish nonsense. The world expects peace not peace talks or talks about peace talks. Apologise and move back to the 1948 borders. Otherwise the one state solution is coming soon with one man one vote. That is something bound to upset the current voters in the Apartheid entity.
the zionist enemy only understands strength, which Arab land did they ever leave ? that's right, Lebanon and Gaza, why ? because of resistance !, because public pressure and the parents of dead soldiers count for a lot more than the opinion of the state department !
Except for the Sinai, you mean? Which Israel vacated under negotiations and for decades the situation has been quite reasonable. On the other hand, Gaza and Lebanon are now just complete dumps; so I don't think "resistance" panned out so well for the people in the area/ So I think your memory may be selective. If you seriously think Israel is going to give land to people who are actively firing rockets, think again. That's never going to happen.