The U.S. fears that once the Palestinian initiative gets rolling, it will snowball and end any hope of resuming peace talks in the coming years.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is seeking to advance a new Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative that would forestall the Palestinians’ application to the UN Security Council to mandate an end to the occupation. To this end, senior Israeli officials say, Kerry has asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu whether he would be willing to resume negotiations on the basis of the 1967 lines with territorial swaps.
In his speech to the UN General Assembly in late September, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he would ask the Security Council to set a deadline for ending Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. A week later, the Palestinians circulated a draft resolution calling for Israel to withdraw by November 2016 and for an international force to replace the Israeli army.
The U.S. administration is very disturbed by the Palestinian initiative, which is liable to create a serious Israeli-Palestinian crisis. Though it has already told the Palestinians it will veto the resolution, it would rather not have to do so, especially at a time when it is recruiting Arab countries to join its military coalition against Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria.
The senior Israeli officials, who asked to remain anonymous, said that despite the breakdown in Israeli-Palestinian talks in March, Kerry has resumed dealing with this issue intensively over the last month. The Security Council hasn’t yet set a timetable for considering the Palestinian resolution, but the Palestinians have agreed to wait until after the U.S. congressional elections on November 4. Thus Kerry believes he has about a month to find a solution.
Two weeks ago, he met with Netanyahu in New York and said he thought it was still possible to forestall the Palestinian bid. But he said his impression from his talks with Abbas a few days earlier was that the only way to do so was to offer a substantive alternative.
A senior Israeli official briefed on the Kerry-Netanyahu meeting said Kerry sought to see what Netanyahu would be willing to do to advance such an alternative. Specifically, he asked whether and under what conditions the Israeli leader would be willing to agree to negotiations based on the 1967 lines with territorial swaps.
The senior Israeli official said Netanyahu didn’t reject Kerry’s ideas out of hand, but answered only in general terms, leaving the impression that he wasn’t enthusiastic about them.
Between January and March 2014, while Kerry was trying to get Israel and the Palestinians to agree to a framework document detailing the principles under which peace talks would continue, Netanyahu agreed to negotiate on the basis of the 1967 lines with territorial swaps. However, his agreement was conditioned on Israel being allowed to say it had unspecified reservations to the document, and on the Palestinians both accepting Israel’s security demands and agreeing in principle to recognizing Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
Kerry hinted at his efforts to restart peace talks at a press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo on Sunday. “We are not stopping,” he said. “We are committed to continuing to put ideas on the table, to continue to talk.”
In meetings with both Kerry and U.S. President Barack Obama, Netanyahu raised the possibility of involving the Arab states in reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The White House was skeptical, but Kerry didn’t rule the idea out, and at his Cairo press conference, he raised the possibility of integrating the Arab Peace Initiative, in an updated form, into the peace process.
“Imagine the possibilities of the Arab Peace Initiative finally being, in one form or another – not exactly as it’s written today, but through the negotiations, using it as a foundation and a basis,” Kerry said.
Slim chances of success
Despite all Kerry’s efforts, his chances of success are slim to none. He may be the last person in the U.S. administration who still believes it’s possible to restart the negotiations. His burning faith has led him to say things that are surprising and even embarrassing, as when he gave his explanation for why the peace talks broke down in March during his press conference on Sunday.
Sounding as if he were rewriting history, Kerry claimed the negotiations collapsed due to technical issues. “Regrettably, those talks fell apart, frankly, over more of an issue of process – the delivery of prisoners and timing and methodology – than over the fundamental divisive issues, even though there were still some differences,” he said. “Progress was made – significant progress in certain areas.”
If Kerry’s current initiative fails, the Americans will make do with a far more modest achievement: delaying the Palestinian initiative and buying a little more time. The administration fears that once the Palestinian initiative gets rolling, it will turn into a snowball that will end any hope of resuming peace talks in the coming years.
One reason for the Americans’ deep concern about the Palestinian move is their sense that it’s very hard to predict what Abbas will do now that he has decided to start taking a hard line. The administration fears that if it vetoes the Security Council resolution, the Palestinians will adopt a policy of “going crazy” and escalate their moves at UN institutions.
If that happens, the Palestinians are liable to join dozens of international conventions, seek to obtain member state status at various UN agencies and even use their doomsday weapon – signing the Rome Statute to join the International Criminal Court in The Hague. If until a few months ago, the U.S. administration’s assessment was that Abbas wouldn’t dare do this, today, it doesn’t rule out such a scenario.
Even though Netanyahu isn’t happy about adopting Kerry’s proposals, he and his advisors are very worried by the Palestinian appeal to the Security Council. They fear this Palestinian move will not only lead to escalating international pressure on Israel, but also, and perhaps to an even greater extent, create a crisis within the governing coalition, harden the various parties’ positions and increase political pressures to the point where resuming negotiations would be impossible for the foreseeable future.
So far, officials in Jerusalem aren’t considering any diplomatic initiative of their own to rescue Israel from the crisis. Instead, they are focusing on efforts to block the Palestinian appeal to the Security Council via diplomatic means.
Israel is aware of America’s sensitivity about using its veto at this time and on this issue. But passage of any Security Council resolution requires the support of at least nine of the council’s 15 members, so if the Palestinians win support from only eight, the United States wouldn’t have to use its veto.
In an interview with the Palestinian news agency Ma’an on Monday, Nabil Shaath, the official in charge of foreign relations for Abbas’ Fatah movement, said the Palestinians had so far obtained promises of support from seven Security Council members. One country that announced it would vote for the Palestinian resolution this week is Russia. Now, the Palestinians are trying to obtain the other two votes they need.
Israel, in coordination with the United States, is trying to persuade Security Council members to vote against or abstain on the resolution. A few days ago, Israeli ambassadors in all 15 Security Council member states were told to raise this issue with their host governments at the highest levels.
Just as it did two years ago, when the UN General Assembly voted on November 29, 2012 to upgrade the Palestinians’ status to that of a nonmember observer state, this fall as well, UN headquarters in New York will become the principle theater of Israeli-Palestinian wrestling.
Israel should make any entrance into negotiations and rebuilding of Gaza contingent upon the cessation of lies and libels from Obama, EU, UN and Pals. Why negotiate or discuss with liars and schnorers.
another example of how Obama tortures the jews through his appointed stooges.
Finally someone in the GOI calls the filthy, despicable, blood libeling obama admin & euros to task. Those that try to blame the jews for the ME, like the pope just did, are filthy despicable pigs who should be spat upon. This should be done daily by the otherwise big mouths in the GOI like Liberman who should be calling in foreign ambassadors and raking them over the coals in anger and disgust, treating them like the filthy and despicable pigs which they are; the jew hating renegers on every agreement with the Jews. Call them liars, swindlers, crooks, schnorers and goniffs as that is what they are every time they mention illegitimate or illegal Jewish settlers. The pigs want to herd the Jews into another ghetto of their creation. This is all born in europe which should burn in chaos and suffering.
@ bernard ross:
I Took off his Face book. It was a stand alone ref and I quoted it. I didn’t save the link.
yamit82 Said:
was there a link?
yamit82 Said:
not only is it a great idea it is a proven sound idea. Gazans have been trying to emigrate just being in the existent situation under Hamas, therefore it makes sense that if they suffer more then more would want to leave. Instead of trying to make their life better we should be trying to make it worse both to make them leave and to punish their Jew hatred. The principle of K.I.S.S. 😛
@ LtCol Howard:
Agree in every particular.
@ bernard ross:
Steven Plaut
Here is a thought. Instead of “rehabilitating” Gaza, how about just leaving it in ruins with no electricity or money or services and then just wait around peacefully for the Gazans to find better places to live in other countries?
yamit82 Said:
In my view:
the FSA and the original twitter “revolution” were simply a fig leaf used as a cover to introduce the original jihadi mercenaries recruited and trained by Sauidi and Jordan and aided by the US. They were never of much effect. the succeeding Jihadi mercenaries were also not strong enough and were losing ground to Assad as the US and/or Israel were originally expected to provide air support or more like in Libya. This was quashed by the Benghazi exposures linking Obama to Jihadis, hence backing off the original plan and requiring a plan B. The original goal of the GCC/western alliance remains which explains the current maneuver. There is no longer any need for the original fig leaf as IS has achieved what the alliance set out to achieve, at this stage, which was to weaken Irans proxies, disestablish their territorial control, reestablish GCC/sunni hegemony. IS is a combination of jihad mercenary groups and Iraqi former military. This group was planned when the original jihadis were not achieving success and the US backed off. In the months prior to their emergence the US and the Saudis began to distance themselves from any jihadi connections due to the exposure at benghazi AND their plan to introduce IS. they now pretend to be operating on the other side but in fact they do not want to disestablish IS but rather to contain their adventures and limit their borders. the force they are introducing now will likely have a political nature and have been trained by the US and CIA in Jordan to take over from future IS withdrawals. The FSA was never anything.
Keep in mind that it is ONLY ISIS which has been able to achieve the results originally planned for by the GCC/western alliance. Without the existence of IS Assad and Hezbullah would have likely ended any potential leverage of the GCC/Western alliance. IS is the alliance covert vehicle and the posture and limited attacks to contain IS are the plausible deniability offered as a cover for the obvious connections and goals. IS is there for a reason and I expect balance until the outcome of the negotiations with Iran and russia. If the outcome is unacceptable I see Iran and Lebanon as the next step for destabilization both internally and externally.
as far as turkey and IS I believe that turkey and IS are in sync and turkey is advancing the interests of Barzanis Kurds against the PYK and PKK syrian factions. It appears that Barzani has only delivered humanitarian supplies to the Syrian kurds and not arms.
@ bernard ross:
@ LtCol Howard:
Is America totally stupid?
U.S. Ditches ‘Moderate’ Syrian Rebels And Plans To Build Its Own Force To Fight ISIS
LtCol Howard Said:
Jewish joke.
Doomed Jew is brought before the leader of a country persecuting the Jews.
The King condemns him to death but before they drag him out he tells them he can make the King’s dog talk. The King holds up the guards and says “well then make the dog talk.” The Jew says says “But sire I will need some time to teach him” The King asks “How long” The Jew answered “It will take a year” The King ans “I will delay your execution for a year, but if the dog does not talk I will make you suffer long and painful death” The Jew agrees. Back in his cell his cell mate exclaims “you can’t make a dog talk” The Jew answered ” A year is a long time in the meantime maybe the King will die or the dog!”…..
@ LtCol Howard:
Excellent question, and if I may say so, it is a rhetorical one…
On another thread I posted a comment to mr Ross where I quoted from a book by feiglin where he said (referring to the general feeling of the average citizen in Israel at the time of the Oslo accords) everybody assumed that there HAD to be something that the ‘leaders’ knew that the public was just not privy to the behind the scenes …. So everybody went along thinking that the ‘leadership’ and ESPECIALLY, “the hero of ’67” could be trusted….
We know the rest of the story…. 🙁
To my thinking, the current ‘leadership’ is similarly riding on many ‘facts’ that are just not so… It is all smoke mirror and half truths…
Almost like reading from a script, two separate Israeli friends that visited recently said “look, what he knows we don’t know”
We know how well THAT thinking played in the past….
One problem is that Israel has not shown how increased pressure on Israel will bring suffering to the pals. whatever the UN and others decide it is Israel who can control what and who goes in and out of the PA and Gaza. Declaring a state without boundaries is meaningless as the arabs can have the postage stamp of land at rafah and still be declared a state. Even if they all decalre and approve a state for the pals they cannot implement it without Israeli cooperation which brings it back to square one. I dont believe that the euros have the balls to bring even more chaos to the ME without having some prior cooperation with Israel. the whole region could blow up with much greater conflict than now; I dont beleive the euros will risk that. Perhaps israel has agreed that they will not seriously oppose such a declaration; perhaps Israel is not opposed to a “pal state” that has no boundaries nor control over their access or egress. There might be advantages to Israel in them declaring a state as they cannot declare having a link to gaza nor declare having return of refugees nor declare any control over C. If Israel just defacto let them operate A&B without recognition nor ceding sovereignty over A&B it would lead to a defacto separation of C from A&B meaning a defacto continuation of the current situation, which could not be obtained in any “agreement” only in such an apparently conflicted scenario. In such a scenario how would they ever get any part of Jerusalem as they could only beg the Jews for a peice beyond what they defacto control. Perhaps that was why Yaalon said he does not care what they call themselves, that they could call themselves the pal empire if they wanted.
Why does Israel keep playing the Palestinian blackmail game.
The Palestinian authority will eventually go to the UN. Any blackmail that Israel pays to prevent this is wasted.
On the other hand the Palestinian Authority has confessed that their fighters were engaged in the Gaza missile attacks against Israel. This is a war crime. There are many other war crimes that could be documented against the Palestinian Authority.
Israel should devote resources to publicly making and documenting these charges and threaten Abbas and the Palestinian authority with an avalanche of documented war crime charges should they become a member of the international Court.
In short, make the cost of them joining the court so horrendous that they would not want membership.
The best defense is a good offense. Paying blackmail never pays.
problem is that all his ideas center upon Israel giving something up and the pals doing nothing in return: a recipe for failure.
Perhaps Israel should release the hamas terrorists back into he west bank and facilitate a gang war between fatah and hamas? Not much gets done in chaos, just look at arab spring which has brought almost every issue to a halt except the Israel pal issue.
Arab spring in PA and arab spring in europe, HMMMMMM?
“The U.S. fears that once the Palestinian initiative gets rolling, it will snowball and end any hope of resuming peace talks in the coming years.”
The death of any and all peace talks is precisely what I want to happen. Because, in the end, if the Jewish state is to survive in the far more dangerous Middle East that is arising even now, then all lands west of the Jordan River must be under control of the Jewish state. The real picture of the present and future of the Middle East is so bleak that, in order to provide for the military security of the State of Israel, then they must control all the land areas from the Gulf of Suez and the Mitla Pass in the southwest and eastward as far as the Syrian Desert. But for now, the barest minimum protective land area is everything west of the Jordan River.
In order to fulfill that vital need, the following actions are needed:
1) Israel must increase the Jewish population of Area C as defined by the Oslo Accord maps by about 6 per cent per year, which will double the present Jewish population in Area C to about 800,000 in 12 years, and, if that pace is maintained, the result would be a Jewish population in that area of would reach 1.6 million some 10 years before the first millennium of the independence of the Jewish state. And we know that a growth rate of 6 per cent is achievable because of the extraordinary birth rates of the settler families, both religious and nationalist. Moreover, purposely utilizing phenomena such as the urban sprawl that characterizes every growing city and metropolitan area in the United States and probably Canada as well, will help fill in the those territories solidly with Israeli Jews of the kind who will not abandon Eretz-Yisrael for residence in Berlin or Los Angeles.
2) Instead of useless attempts at meaningful peace talks with the Fatah and Hamas gangs whose never-varying long-term goal is the eradication of the Jewish state, or even any form of Jewish sovereignty anywhere in what they consider their Palestinian homeland, Israel should miss no opportunity to break up the power of those gangs. Israel can do that by annexing the entirety of Area C, comprising some 62% of the territory taken from the Emirate of Transjordan in June 1967, and by retaking and annexing the Gush Katif area of the abandoned Jewish settlements along the Mediterranean coast between Gaza and Rafah. In place of dealing with Fatah and Hamas, Israel should deal directly only with selected leaders of the tribes, blood clans, and notable urban family who are the traditional local power holders in the Gaza Strip, and the blood clans and notable families that traditionally have been the main power holders in the Arab-populated cities and villages of Shomron and Yehuda.
3) Israel must not remain under control of governments that repeatedly block unlimited Jewish settlement in the very heartland of the Jewish nation. This means doing whatever must be done to fracture the present government coalition and putting in its place a Jewish nationalist and Jewish religious government. That new government must be strong and sufficiently willful to assure that never again will Israel allow any foreign government — including that of the United States of America — to dictate the terms and strategy of Israel’s future existence. Israel does not need the USA for its overpriced jet fighter[bombers, it’s false promises of protection against Iran’s nuclear weapons, or its clumsy and self-defeating attempts at diplomacy-building among the not-infrequently murderous cultures of a Middle Eastern civilizational zone that are understood neither by most American citizens nor by its national leadership. The time is long overdue for Israel to develop strong relations with China, India and even Russia. Much of the leadership cadres of those societies are ruthless and have no interest in democracy. But western liberal democracy is precisely what Israel needs to abandon as soon as practicable.
Most of you reading these comments are residents of societies that imagine liberal democracy, if fulfilled, will establish the rule of law, order, human rights, environmental protection, protection of minorities, and all the rest of the claptrap that shields the reality of societal decay fully evident across the board in all the cultures of the western civilizations. The Jews of western and central Europe were doomed to be the ultimate victims of the supposed freedoms of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic French empire of the early 19th century. In retrospect, a straight line could be drawn from the celebrations of the rights of man in Paris, to the German Nazi extermination camps of Poland some 150 years later.
The time to save Israel and the Jewish nation is now. While Israel can still control its own destiny.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
BLACKMAIL!!!!!!
Stupid BB fell into it with eyes wide shut.
This mess is mostly the fault of corrupt Jewish leaders who lack faith and vision. They make a mess of every good opportunity. Instead of standing strong for Jewish rights they choose appeasement of implacable enemies. Instead of demanding all the land and pushing the Arab occupiers out they falsely and stupidly confess to being “occupiers” and hope that the Arabs will then agree to remain occupied. Gentile friends of Israel are disgusted with the self destructive mentality that prevails over common sense. Is there something suicidal inside our DNA?
Israel is being asked by the US to commit national suicide to spare the US public relations problems in the Arab World.
Israel should turn Kerry down. A Palestinian Arab state is incompatible with Israel’s very existence. The lessons of this past summer’s war with Gaza appear to be lost on Barak Ravid and fellow Israeli leftists.