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15 March 2011 By Khalid Amayreh To be seen as forthcoming,
Israel's prime minister has tabled a new peace
initiative. It is as empty as all prior Israeli
charades, writes Khaled Amayreh in occupied Jerusalem Spurred by looming international
pressure on Israel over the stalemated peace process
with the Palestinians, and especially worried about
the possible negative ramifications for Israel of
ongoing revolutions in the Arab world, particularly
Egypt, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said
he was preparing to launch a new peace initiative for
resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The new initiative, which
Netanyahu hopes will attract large publicity, is based
on the concept of creating an interim Palestinian
state on 60 per cent of the West Bank, with temporary
borders, but with little or no sovereignty. According to information leaked
from the Israeli press, the new plan will leave the
Israeli army in the Jordan Valley and in most of the
so-called Area-C, or areas outside major Palestinian
population centres. None of the Jewish settlements
would be dismantled and work would be continued in the
so-called "legal settlements" (settlements built with
Israeli government approval). "The Palestinians are not ready
to reach a final status agreement to end the conflict
in light of the instability in the region," claimed
Netanyahu. He added: "We don't want to evade a final
status agreement, but an interim agreement is the way
to get there." The Palestinians, who have
rejected the new "public relations gambit", are
dismissive of talk about an "interim state" and
"temporary borders". They fear that an "interim state"
would be a sly Israeli prescription for stealing and
annexing up to 50 per cent of the West Bank. The proposed initiative is very
much old wine in new bottles. Most Israeli
commentators and columnists view it as no more than a
PR stunt aimed at "keeping the world busy" and
forestalling international, especially European,
pressure on Israel to be more forthcoming with regards
to peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Peace talks between Israel and
the Palestinian Authority (PA) are now completely
stalled following President Obama's recent admission
that he had failed to get the Israeli government to
freeze Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank
and occupied East Jerusalem. Palestinian leaders,
including PA President Mahmoud Abbas, have adamantly
refused to resume talks with Israel absent a genuine
settlement freeze. Indeed, Abbas has accused Israel
of harbouring ill will and malicious intent, namely in
seeking to steal and devour as much of the occupied
Palestinian territory as possible before a peace deal
is reached, a charge that seems quite plausible.
Palestinian official Nabil Shaath scoffed at the new
Israeli plan, calling it a public relations stunt and
theatrical feat. "Netanyahu is trying to
circumvent everything that has to do with
international law and international legitimacy. There
is no hope for peace with a government that doesn't
recognise any of the outstanding agreements. Besides,
we will not accept the stationing of a single Israeli
soldier on our soil," Shaath said. It is not clear why Netanyahu has
chosen this time to come up with a new peace plan,
however much of a sham that initiative may be. The
Obama administration, which alienated the Palestinians
and other Arabs when it vetoed a draft UN Security
Council resolution condemning Jewish settlement
expansion last month, seems to expect Netanyahu to
reciprocate by offering "something really genuine". On the other hand, the Israeli
prime minister hopes that he can keep up his hawkish
government by getting key members like Foreign
Minister Avigdor Lieberman to support the plan.
Lieberman, an extremist who advocates the ethnic
cleansing of Palestinians, is a chief proponent of an
interim Palestinian state with temporary borders. He
has proposed the creation of a long-term Palestinian
state on 45-50 per cent of the West Bank, ostensibly
with the intention of annexing the rest of the
occupied territory to Israel. Lieberman and likeminded Israeli
leaders seem to calculate that Israel will eventually
be able to perpetuate on the ground, by creating more
"demographic realities" and frustrating Palestinian
demands for a state along 1967 borders, advantageous
to Israel and disadvantageous to the Palestinians. And
it is highly likely that Netanyahu is planning to
launch his initiative, with a lot of fanfare, in the
knowledge -- even in certainty -- that the
Palestinians would reject it outright. A new meaningless initiative
would cost Israel nothing, especially with decisive US
backing of Israeli positions. Netanyahu probably hopes
that the initiative would help throw the proverbial
political ball back into the Palestinian court, as
well as help Israel with its public relations claims
that it is the Palestinians, not Israel, who are
really stalling peace talks and therefore impeding the
conclusion of a peace agreement. Netanyahu, like other Israeli
leaders, is immensely worried about recent strategic
developments in Egypt. He feels that in order to
forestall anti-Israeli attitudes by the new rulers of
Egypt he needs a lot of American pressure on the new
regime in Cairo. Meanwhile, the appointment of
Nabil Al-Arabi as the new Egyptian foreign minister
may be bad news for Israel. An accomplished diplomat
and veteran of Israeli-Egyptian post- Camp David era
negotiations, Al-Arabi should have no illusions about
Israeli ploys and prevarication. Egypt has already eased up travel
restrictions at the Rafah Border Crossing between
Egypt and the Gaza Strip. More goodwill gestures from
Egypt towards the Palestinians are expected. (end) |
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