A Palestinian State: Previewing the Mitchell Talks in Israel

Receive our latest updates by email or RSS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED
Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis

When Salam Fayyad, the Prime Minister of the West Bank, said in August that a de facto state could be founded in two years. the first reaction came from Israeli Foreigm Minister Avigdor Lieberman : "The Palestinians’ unilateral initiatives do not contribute to a positive dialogue between the parties."

Less than a month has passed and Lieberman may count himself lucky not to be hearing his President's words as Shimon Peres tours Africa. According to Peres, Salam Fayyad is a "Palestinian [David] Ben-Gurion," the first leader of modern Israel.

Meanwhile, according to Haaretz, a senior diplomatic source said on Saturday that the proposal of the European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, for the United Nations to accept Palestine as a full member within two years, was made with the support at the highest levels of the U.S. administration. Palestinian and European Union sources told Haaretz that Israel's talks with US special envoy George Mitchell, who arrived in the country on Saturday night, will initially focus on determining the permanent border between Israel and the West Bank. Although Palestinians want to draw temporary border lines before the final agreement, a mutual determination on borders next week would constitute an "early recognition of Palestine" by Israelis.

Despite obstacles such as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's non-negotiable position on the status of Jerusalem and on the right of return for Palestinian refugees, both sides are expected to find common ground through the exchange of land rather than a focus on the pre-1967 borders.

In the event a final agreement on the settlement freeze issue next week, a tripartite meeting is expected in New York between the head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, Netanyahu, and President Obama at the UN General Assembly this month.

Middle East Inside Line: Israel's New PR Campaign

Middle East Inside Line: Fatah and Israel, US Withdrawal From Iraq to Turkey?, Israel-Sweden Fight

Receive our latest updates by email or RSS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED
Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis

Israel - No Arrests, The Americans Are in Town: According to Ha'aretz, Israeli soldiers serving in the West Bank have been instructed by their commanders to cancel a number of planned arrest operations while American diplomats are touring inside the West Bank and East Jerusalem “to gather testimony on settlement construction, to oversee American-funded projects, and to meet with Palestinian Authority officials". One of the officers said: "We were told that the situation with the Americans is sensitive and that it is not desirable that operations are conducted that could lead to violent situations when they [the Americans] are there."

Israel's New PR Campaign: On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman publicly dismissed Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s “de-facto state” plan. He also said that there should not be any deadline for a future agreement between Palestinians and Israelis.

On the same day, the Jerusalem Post reported that Lieberman is working on a new campaign to fix Israel’s image in the eyes of Washington: "Government ministers Moshe Ya'alon, Yossi Peled, Dan Meridor and Benny Begin, as well as Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and former consul-general in New York Alon Pinkas, will begin on Sunday - in a staggered fashion - fanning out across America, meeting with political and media figures, policy-makers, campus groups and Jewish organizations, in an effort to explain the government's positions.”

Holding the Line on Israeli Settlements: Yossi Peled, Israeli Minister Without Portfolio, spoke at the gathering of Likud Party activists in Tel Aviv on Tuesday after accompanying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his trip to Europe. He assured the audience that the Prime Minister had not made any deal with the Obama Administration to freeze construction in Judea and Samaria and that he was not willing to do so:

I heard the prime minister say with my own ears that he has no intention of freezing construction in the settlements or in Jerusalem… He said there is no agreement to freeze construction in the settlements. I am telling you this first-hand.

Peled added that Netanyahu had said in his meetings in Europe that "Jews should be able to live wherever they want".