Israel-PA talks resume under shadow of Camp David lessons
Document states that prominence of Syrian track in 2000 led to serious crisis of confidence with PA.
By Barak Ravid Tags: Syria Palestinian AuthorityNegotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and PA negotiator Ahmed Qureia, were renewed Wednesday in a very tense atmosphere.
The talks were renewed after a seven-year hiatus following the failure of Camp David, the Taba talks and the fall of the government headed by then prime minister Ehud Barak.
A document delineating the details of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians from 1999 to 2001 was given to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Livni and their advisors to study in preparation for the Middle East peace summit held in Annapolis, Maryland last month. Many of its details, particularly the concessions to which Israel had agreed, were known to very few people involved in the talks in Israel, the PA and the U.S. administration. The document heavily impacted the concepts the parties used in formulating their joint statement prior to the Annapolis summit, emphasizing that they would conduct negotiations to reach a "peace agreement."
The document's section on lessons learned from the 1999-2001 talks stated that Barak's negotiations with the Syrians had led to a delay on the Palestinian track, which resulted in a serious crisis of confidence between the parties and spurred the Palestinians to significantly harden their line. The document also reveals a "unilateral separation" plan formulated under Barak's direction. The plan stated that, lacking an agreement, Israel would initiate a gradual separation over a number of years with willingness to renew talks at any time.
The document also revealed the parties' agreements and disagreements on the core issues: Palestinian flexibility on refugees; Israeli agreement to accept refugees on a humanitarian basis; Palestinian refusal to Israel's core security demands, and partial Palestinian agreement to recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people..
Overtures to Syria caused crisis with PA in previous round
Efforts to move ahead with diplomatic efforts vis-a-vis the Syrians at the expense of negotiations with the Palestinians led to a "serious crisis of confidence between the parties" as well as a hardening of their line in negotiations.
This was revealed by the summarizing document on the negotiations that newly elected prime minister Ariel Sharon received from outgoing prime minister Barak.
The summary also stated that Israel could not have managed two negotiating tracks with the Syrians and the Palestinians at the same time.
In January 2000, Barak began conducting talks in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk a-Shara, with president Bill Clinton and secretary of state Madeleine Albright serving as mediators. They reached a dead end after a week of talks.
The reason for the failure was disagreement over the location of the border at Lake Kinneret: Syria demanded that Israel return to the border of June 4, 1967, which would have given it rights to the Kinneret water.
Barak, currently serving as defense minister, said recently in a number of forums that Israel must work to renew negotiations on the Syrian track - not at the expense of the Annapolis process, but rather parallel to it.
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Israeli and PA negotiation teams meeting ahead of last month's Annapolis summit (AP) |
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I could live with the fact that there will be no peace for Israel in my lifetime. What is hard to live with after all these years is that it is very clear that the current government of Israel - or any conceivable replacement - has no intention of even seriously talking about the possibility. The logic is perfectly circular and perfidious in intent:
Olmert: "You can have a piece, we will take more pieces." Abbas: "Please stop building settlements?" Olmert: 'You can have another piece, we will take 10 more pieces." Abbas: "you must stop building settlements!" Olmert: We will put a wall around all four of your pieces to protect them from all the rest that we have taken." Abbas: "Can we drive from one piece to another?" Olmert: "Have a few more checkpoints." Abbas: "I thought this was a peace conference." Olmert: "There can be no peace, there are still Palestinians."
And who is butch mary ?
quote:"A document delineating the details of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians from 1999 to 2001 was given to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Livni and their advisors to study in preparation for the Middle East peace summit held in Annapolis, Maryland last month. Many of its details, particularly the concessions to which Israel had agreed, were known to very few people involved in the talks in Israel, the PA and the U.S. administration." who is in power here ????? this government is working almost two years, and they haven't seen this until now ?????
the irresolute politicians and the awestruck ghetto minds lead to disaster every time !
Chill with the Trolling, good sirs. Uzi, you in particular have been posting that same message all over haaretz. Reconciliation is needed, and your plain disregard for (both) peoples who have a very strong tie to the land is distressing. It is a very good thing people like you are not in government.
And this has fallen by the wayside "partial Palestinian agreement to recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people", so it appears that Abbas has a harder line than Arafat.
The lesson is that what the pals want is not a state but to destroy Israel.
Activists on both sides failed to move forward in peace. Preferring instad to quibble over territory, resources and pride. Are we ready now? What about YOU Frank, are you there yet?
Israel should let Hamas to depose Abbas and smash Fatah, also in Judea and Samaria, on their way to abolish the PA and wipe it off the world map and consciousness. Then Israel should get rid of Hamas. This will open the way for the Kingdom of Jordan to take charge as the only viable nation state of all the Arabs of Greater Palestine. Having got rid of the PA and Hamas, Israel and Jordan should agree on the border between them in Judea and Samaria and maybe cede Gaza to Egypt that would sort it out quite smartly. Everybody, Jews and Arabs, should continue to live in peace where they are and nobody should move from their homes or land. Israelis who would thus become residents of the Kingdom of Jordan should be given rights and conditions like the Arabs in Israel.
The Arabs of Western Eretz Yisrael have consistently demonstrated that they are incapable of surviving unaided or ruling themselves, especially at the national polity level. They have never exercised their inherent right of self determination and now they expect others to determine and create for them that Mickey Mouse "state" which will never be. They constantly kill and steal from each other and lie to themselves, each other and the rest of the world. They never miss any opportunity to make atrocious choices and mistakes and they are incapable of sustaining and providing for themselves; they depend on others for everything. How on earth will they ever make it?
The Arabs of the Land of Israel consistently demonstrate that they don't want, can't make and won't maintain real peace. They do want, however, to weaken Israel by gaining territory without 'giving' anything tangible. They ignore that "possession is nine tenths of the law" and that it's rather the Arabs who should come forward and spell out what they offer Israel in return for what they want. They also pretend not to get it that in this case "land for peace" is both immoral and unworkable. The Arabs had used the 'territories' to threaten, pester and attack Israel before we took these territories in self defence. They continue to plan, prepare and perpetrate genocide against Israel and pretend not to see that it would be suicide for Israel to concede anything in response to their threats and aggressive action. The Arabs must realize that the only way toward peace is that rather they themselves should offer, accept and be convincingly satisfied with 'painful' compromises.
No lessons were really drawn from Camp David. The real lesson is this process is not and never has been about peace but about the creation of a terror state. Wishful thinking won't change anything to this reality.