Israel Update for May 2010

President Barrack Obama's special Middle East envoy, former US senator George Mitchell, arrived back in Jerusalem in mid May to formally launch American-mediated peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The so-called "proximity talks" are a form of shuttle diplomacy, meaning US mediators are traveling back and forth between the Israeli negotiating delegation that is operating out of Jerusalem and the Palestinian delegation located in Ramallah, due north of Israel's capital city.

Veteran PA negotiator Saeb Erekat said he wants the talks to focus on final status issues, especially the volatile issue of Jerusalem's future status and the permanent borders of a Palestinian state. He added that "Israel is now facing two options: Peace or settlements. Israel cannot combine the two together." Another member of the PA delegation boasted to Arab media outlets that the Obama administration had "accepted most of our demands" for the resumption of peace talks, especially that Israel halt all Jewish home construction in the eastern half of Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told a gathering of his Likud party leaders that he will do everything possible to ensure that the indirect peace talks end in a final peace treaty with the PA. He recalled that the world said that "if the Likud came to power, there would not be peace. But the Likud brought peace with Egypt that has lasted for 33 years." Netanyahu added that "the threats to Israel have not disappeared, but the advantages of a lasting peace with our neighbors are clearer than ever." Apparently alluding to his decision to freeze all settlement construction in the disputed territories and parts of Jerusalem, the Premier stated that his government has "proven our willingness to take difficult steps for peace." But he also said Israel" needs leaders on the other side with the courage of Anwar Sadat and King Hussein."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak echoed Netanyahu's comments, telling a meeting of his coalition Labor party activists that Israel is "ready to make tough decisions" in exchange for a final peace accord with the PA. But he added that he doubts any real progress can be made via indirect negotiations. "Because a real breakthrough cannot be reached in proximity talks, we must get to direct negotiations on all the core issues of the conflict as soon as possible." Barak added that "The Americans are making a significant investment diplomatically and politically on challenges that also interest us in the wider Middle East, Afghanistan and Iraq. And the Americans are trying to impose sanctions on Iran, and stop North Korea and other hostile countries. That is why they expect Israel, as a friend, to do our part for the greater good by reaching a peace accord with the Palestinians."

Israeli media reports said US officials are pushing hard for the proximity talks to be quickly ditched in favor of direct negotiations. They are also trying to get the two sides to agree to a shared negotiating agenda. The reports said Netanyahu wants to focus first on relatively easy to resolve issues such as environmental concerns, water sharing and various economic issues. The PA wants the talks to jump directly to the emotive issue of Jerusalem, the establishment of a Palestinian state and the drawing of its permanent borders. Israeli officials point out that previous direct peace talks have always broken down over those explosive issues, so rushing to address them first is a likely recipe for rapid failure.

Israel's former foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, predicted the negotiations would come to nothing since the Palestinian people are deeply divided between the majority who dwell under PA control north and south of Jerusalem, and the nearly one-third who are ruled by the militant Hamas movement. Other former and current government officials have stated in past months that the time is hardly ripe for a final peace accord with the Palestinians, given that Iranian leaders are vowing to annihilate Israel and are backed by Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas, who all possess deadly rocket and missile arsenals.

Israel's current Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, also indirectly poured cold water on the "proximity" peace negotiations, saying the PA has so far reciprocated Israeli government goodwill gestures with what he called "slaps in the face." He then listed some of the government's gestures: "We took the unilateral step of deciding on a moratorium, a construction freeze in Judea and Samaria. We recognized two states for two peoples. We removed a dramatic number of roadblocks. I think we made countless gestures, and what did we get in return? The glorification of terror." Lieberman was apparently referring to several recent PA sponsored civic events that were named in honor of PLO terrorist leaders responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Israeli Jews. He added that "Mahmoud Abbas himself called us" to ask that Israel continue the January 2009 Cast Lead military operation against Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip until the radical group was completely ousted from power.

With wars and rumors of wars again rising high on the Middle East agenda, it is reassuring to recall that the sovereign God of Israel, the Creator of the Universe, revealed long ago that He had deeded the Promised Land to the Jewish decedents of Jacob forever: "He has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations...saying "To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance" (Psalm 105: 9, 11).