JERUSALEM, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. special envoy George Mitchell held talks lasting several hours in London on Wednesday. Those close to the discussions said progress was being made and there is general optimism that these talks will lead to the relatively early resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) shakes hands with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell during their meeting in London August 26, 2009, in this picture released by the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO). Netanyahu said on Wednesday his government was making progress towards reopening talks with the Palestinians and hoped to be able to do so shortly. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
A joint statement issued at the end of the session
said progress had been made and a further round of talks would be held next
week.
Rumors are emanating from Washington, Jerusalem and Ramallah on Wednesday, suggesting the Palestinian and Israeli leaders are likely to meet in September.
One is that the two men will hold private talks
during the opening of the 64th General Assembly of the United Nations, which
begins on Sep. 15.
It is also being suggested, based on comments to
reporters by Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Gabriella Shalev, that a
three-way meeting will soon be held among Netanyahu, Palestinian leader Mahmoud
Abbas and U.S. President Barack Obama.
Before talking with Mitchell, Netanyahu met British
Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday. Brown told reporters that he is now more
optimistic about the chances for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal than he has
been for some time.
SETTLEMENT FREEZE
All of this speculation about progress towards direct
negotiations points to the fact that agreement is apparently close between the
U.S. and Israel over the American demand that Israel "freeze all settlement
activity."
The settlement issue has been a major stumbling block
between the parties since they first held direct talks in the early
1990s.However, since Obama came into office in January, it has become apparent
that the thinking in Washington is that this is now the paramount issue.
Indeed, Abbas has made it absolutely clear that there
can be no negotiations until Israel ceases all construction in the West Bank.
Abbas and Obama say that building freeze should also
apply to the Arab-dominated eastern side of Jerusalem, which the United Nations
deems occupied territory. The Palestinians have earmarked eastern Jerusalem as
the capital of their future state.
However, official Israeli policy is to speak of
Jerusalem as "the indivisible capital of the Jewish state."
Despite this and other clear differences, there is
recognition from all three parties that there is progress. Analysts are now
considering what lies ahead.
The ball is now in Obama's court, according to
Professor Yaacov Bar Siman Tov of the Department of International Relations of
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Now that it looks as though there will be a
tripartite meeting in September, it is up to Obama to propose the next steps, he
said.
An alternative idea, coming from an arguably
surprising corner, is that U.S. Obama administration's push for greater active
Arab involvement in the peace process, calling the Arab states to offer some
goodwill gestures towards Israel to persuade the Israelis of the value of their
cutting a final-status deal with the Palestinians.
Several Arab countries, including Qatar, Oman,
Morocco and Mauritania have indicated they will be prepared to restore some form
of diplomatic relationship with Israel once a freeze has been implemented.
Another gesture that would be of tremendous benefit
to Israel would be if the Arab world would allow Israeli commercial aircraft to
fly through its airspace. At the moment, flights to and from Asia and Africa
take far longer than necessary because Israeli planes are not permitted to fly
over Arab countries.
However, some Arab states like the Saudis are
skeptical of Obama's push. Over the last three weeks, some Saudi officials have
said that Israel should not be rewarded until it fulfills all its obligations
under international law. The Saudi-initiated Arab peace offer of a normalization
of relations with Israel should only be applied once Israel withdraws from all
the territory it captured in the 1967 war, Riyadh argues.
IRAN CONCERN
Media reports in the Hebrew press in Israel suggest
Netanyahu is asking the U.S. and Europe to impose tougher sanctions on Iran, as
part of a broader deal that would include the settlement freeze.
"I think it's a mistake to link these issues, which
are separate," said Bar Siman Tov, who puts forward something of an argument of
apples and pears.
Hussein Ibish, senior fellow at the American Task
Force on Palestine, argues that, while the Iran issue is of no interest to the
Palestinians whatsoever, the fact is that Israel has made that linkage and Obama
also perceives a connection, albeit from a very different point of view.
"Netanyahu sees them as organically linked, with Iran
being the principle and primary focus and the Palestinian issue being a
secondary consequence," said Ibish.
"Obama has very clearly stated in the presence of
Netanyahu, that the Palestinian issue is related to Iran as a means of
strengthening the American presence in the Middle East generally, which allows
the United States therefore to successfully take a tougher line with Iran,"
Ibish told Xinhua on Wednesday.
While this discussion has no direct impact on the
Palestinians, their leadership is looking at other key factors as the
possibility of negotiations appears in the horizon. Perhaps first among them is
Netanyahu's ability to deliver.
Ibish maintains that Netanyahu is a pragmatist who
has been able to deliver to some extent in the past. Back in 1996, when
Netanyahu became prime minister for the first time, he had said he would never
meet then Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Two years later, Netanyahu had met
Arafat and signed the Wye River Memorandum, which established security
arrangements between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank.
However, as Ibish points out, while Netanyahu may
want to push the process forwards, his hands are tied by domestic political
considerations. He heads a hawkish government, which will not accept the type of
agreement that the Palestinians and Americans want to see put in place. If
Netanyahu moves too quickly or too far he could be committing political suicide.
