Arab League gives Mideast peace talks a month’s lifeline

Jerusalem, NU Online
Middle East peace talks launched in Washington just five weeks ago to a roll of drums have wasted no time getting into a classic bind.

Their survival is now in the balance. It depends on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, depending on one’s point of view.<<>;br />
One thing is sure: Each is primed to blame the other if the talks crash. If they do, it would probably be a long time before future leaders had another go, and US President Barack Obama might wish he had never gotten involved.

On Friday, the Arab League got involved at the request of Abbas, giving the United States one month to try to revive talks before they resort to other measures, an official said.

The meeting in Libya was to “formulate the beginning of alternatives within the framework that the negotiations are not bearing fruit” said another official, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.

“The position of the Israelis is very, very negative,” he said. “They are not cooperating in the negotiations.”

Barring a U-turn, it seems clear that Abbas will not retreat from the position set out by the executive of the Palestine Liberation Organization which he heads: no resumption of peace talks until Israel halts settlement building.

Abbas has said he wants to go on negotiating with Netanyahu but cannot unless the Israeli leader extends a moratorium on building new homes for Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

Netanyahu says the talks are off to a positive start and it would be a tragedy if the Palestinian leader walks away over an issue Israel regards as irrelevant to the outcome, since a final agreement will determine which settlements Israel keeps.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah on Thursday repeated that “resuming negotiations requires a full freeze of settlement activities,” and that “Israel alone is to be blamed for the obstruction of the political process.”

But no one is yet ready to declare the talks dead.

Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, one of the central players, said earlier this week that Netanyahu “called me twice trying to find an exit from the current dilemma.”

“I said to him that resuming building the settlements is hindering talks and is wrecking the peace process ... and I look forward to positive and responsible positions from Israel in saving the peace talks,” Mubarak told MENA news agency.

Abbas was due to brief 16 foreign ministers of the Arab League’s peace process committee, which on July 29 gave him the green light to restart direct talks, after a 20 month hiatus in peace negotiations with Israel following the Gaza war.

The committee was expected to back Abbas in a refusal to return to talks until Israel agrees to stop settlement building.

Today, Abbas will give a speech to Arab leaders which may reveal how he sees events unfolding if there is no compromise and what the “alternatives” might be.

Mubarak has warned “about an escalation in violence and terrorism in the region and throughout the world if talks between Palestinians and Israel collapsed.”

But in general there has been little speculation in the media about that eventuality, perhaps reflecting a hope that something will come up to save the talks.

There are a few straws in the wind.

The biggest risk facing Netanyahu were he of a mind to meet Abbas’s demand and extend the moratorium on settlement building is the collapse of his coalition with ultra-nationalist and rightwing religious parties.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu announced he would back a loyalty oath for would-be Israeli citizens, requiring them to pledge allegiance to “the nation-state of the Jewish people,” rather than simply “the state of Israel” as in current law.

On Thursday, Eyal Gabai, chief of the Prime Minister’s Office, denied that the move was “payment” to key coalition partner Avigdor Lieberman ahead of a renewed settlement building freeze of 60 days to keep peace talks alive. (reu/dar)