by David Harris
JERUSALEM, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The late British Prime Minister Harold Wilson famously coined the phrase "a week is a long time in politics." In the Middle East this is doubly the case.
The coming seven days could be crucial in terms of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. However, that phrase has often been uttered in the past, and the conflict rumbles on.
Indeed, a leading Israeli analyst warns the public not to get their hopes up, because he sees little chance that the diplomatic activities of the fourth week in March will have any major impact on the stalemate in the region.
MEETING AFTER TIFF
At Sunday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was making the trip to the American capital for the annual gathering of the main pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
He is scheduled to meet with the U.S. President Barack Obama after he got an invitation from U.S. special envoy George Mitchell who finally made a visit to the region after a postponement.
Just before his leaving, Netanyahu opened the Israeli work week by telling his cabinet "building in Jerusalem is just like building in Tel Aviv." This, he told the reporters who assembled in the cabinet chamber for his opening remarks, will be one of his central messages when he visits Washington.
Netanyahu's comments were made as the East Jerusalem housing tiff with the United States continues. The row began some two weeks ago when an Israeli regional planning committee approved a proposal to construct 1,600 housing units in Jewish neighborhood Ramat Shlomo in East Jerusalem, an area claimed by Israel as part of its "indivisible capital" while deemed by the Palestinians as the capital of their future state.
That decision was taken while U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was in the city and Washington saw the move not only a personal insult to Biden but also another "unhelpful" step while the Obama administration was trying to reboot the stalled peace process.
Since then, both Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have spoken publicly of their dismay at the Israeli planning decision.
This latest potential snub follows the receipt of a letter from Netanyahu responding to three demands made by Clinton after Biden' s visit.
She said she wanted to see a goodwill gesture to the Palestinians from Israel, a commitment to stopping the building project that created the storm and a promise to delve into the core issues in the indirect talks that Mitchell is looking to launch.
Local daily Ha'aretz reported on Sunday, quoting senior officials in Jerusalem, that Netanyahu refused to revoke the building project in Ramat Shlomo, but agreed to release hundreds of Fatah-affiliated prisoners and, as a gesture to the Palestinians, and to discuss all core issues during the proximity talks, with the condition of reaching final conclusions only in direct talks with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).
Not only does Netanyahu have to explain himself to the Americans, but he will also be asked to do so when on his return from Washington he meets European leaders. They too have called for clarifications with regards to Israel's construction policies in the occupied territories.
CLASHES IN THE REGION
Netanyahu's visit comes as Israel's relationship with the Palestinians was brought into sharp relief over the weekend with the killing of four Palestinians and one Israeli in a series of incidents both in the West Bank and close to the Gaza Strip.
The clashes in the West Bank will be of particular concern to the Palestinians, Israelis and Americans, because the West Bank has been largely free from violence and the Palestinian security forces have seemingly been increasing their authority in the region.
The violence occurred as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon began his visit to the Middle East.
On Sunday, he entered the Gaza Strip to meet Palestinian people and leaders. Ban called on Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza as he described the suffering of Gazans as "unacceptable."
Israel and Egypt have sealed their borders with Gaza. While food and aids enter Gaza, with the exception of emergency cases, it is virtually impossible for locals to leave the Palestinian enclave.
Both the Israelis and Egyptians say they will maintain their tough border regime while the Islamic resistance movement Hamas controls the area.
However, Ha'aretz reported that, for the first time since Operation Cast Lead, Israel has agreed to ease the blockade on the Gaza Strip, as Netanyahu's gestures toward the Palestinians enabled the UN to transport construction materials to Gaza to rebuild sewerage systems, a flour mill and 150 apartments in southern Gaza.
For the time being, there are no reported differences between the U.S. and Israel on Gaza. The disagreements between the two concern Jerusalem and the West Bank.
LOWER EXPECTATIONS
While a week of welter of diplomatic activities would suggest a real positive push, Israeli political scientists Gerald Steinberg advised that breaths should not be held.
"There is an illusion that somehow things are going to move because there are a lot of diplomatic activities. None of these suggest any movement in terms of the core difficulties," said Steinberg, in Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv.
"The inevitable result is going to be violence and disappointment," he added.
Likewise, Galia Bar-Nathan, an expert on American foreign policy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, did not see any real Israeli-Palestinian breakthrough on the horizon.
Israelis are their own worst enemies, she told Xinhua on Sunday.
"The problem of resuming the negotiations is not a problem between us and the Americans. It's a problem between us and ourselves. Our government can't commit to something like this because of all the restrictions placed upon it by the right wing," she said.
However, in terms of the bilateral American-Israeli relationship, Bar-Nathan did not believe there will be any permanent damage. As with previous crises, time is a great healer and the underlying bond between the nations will remain strong.
