News Analysis: Israeli acceptance of Quartet initiative hard to jump-start of talks

News Analysis: Israeli acceptance of Quartet initiative hard to jump-start of talks

While Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted the initiative by the Middle East Quartet to resume direct peace negotiations with the Palestinians, officials in Ramallah were skeptical of the proposal.

In a statement by the quartet, its members -- the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia -- called on the parties to hold a preparatory meeting within one month to establish the proceeding of the negations.

The timetable outlined in the statement called for a proposal on territory and security after three months, substantial progress within six months, and reach a final agreement by the end of 2012.

However, Naji Shurab of the al-Azhar University in Gaza told Xinhua that there won't be an immediate resumption of negotiations.

WAITING FOR THE UN

Shurab argued that "the Palestinians are ready to talk" but " negotiations won't resume in the near future since they want to wait and see the outcome of the United Nations Security Council ( UNSC) vote."

The Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas submitted an official application to the UN last month, demanding full membership at the world body.

The decision, however, needs the backing of the UNSC, which started deliberations on the bid last week. The United States, emphasizing the importance of "peace through negotiations," has already said that it would veto a Palestinian statehood resolution.

Washington has been trying to get the sides back to talks in order to avoid having to wield its veto power.

While outside intervention might be the only way to get both sides back to the negotiation table, Dan Schueftan of the University of Haifa warned that this might lead to a situation where talks are being conducted primarily because of the intervention -- and not out of a genuine desire for peace.

"Even if negotiations started, it would be because of pressure . .. and not because there is a good basis for negotiations," he said.

PRE-NEGOTIATION TALKS

The statement from Netanyahu's office on Sunday said that while Israel welcomes the Quartet's statement, his government "has a number of reservations which it will raise during negotiations."

One of the reservations is the timetable, which Israel views as unrealistic, according to an unnamed minister quoted by local media.

Furthermore, Israel wants borders and security to be negotiated simultaneously. Netanyahu is also expected to demand that Abbas recognizes Israel as a Jewish state and halt the UN bid.

Meanwhile, Nabil Shaath, who belongs to Abbas' Fatah party, criticized the new proposal, saying that it lacks the clarity of previous statements by the Quartet. He also warned that such a lack of clarity is problematic to the Palestinians, who are "not interested in entering lengthy negotiations with Israel due to the statement's perceived vagueness."

Shaath also demanded that Netanyahu immediately suspend settlement construction in the West Bank.

When U.S. President Barack Obama tried to revive peace talks in 2009, he asked Israel to imposed a ten-month freeze on settlement building, a proposal agreed by Israel as a goodwill gesture.

Nevertheless, much of the time before September 2010, when the moratorium ended, was spend arguing over the structure of the negotiations instead of dealing with the issues themselves.

Direct peace negotiations have been going on since the Madrid process in the early 1990s, which lead to the Oslo Accords in 1993. However, according to Schueftan, "there isn't one optimist on the Israeli side or on the Palestinian side because both sides acknowledge that the gap is enormous," he said.

"Neither party believe that negotiations can produce a result that is acceptable to them," Schueftan added.

Editor: yan

English.news.cn   2011-10-04 01:31:04