Palestinians expect little from U.S. envoy's mission
January 22, 2010 11:42 am
by Fares Akram, Emad Drimly
GAZA, Jan. 22 — Palestinian officials said Thursday there is very little expectation that U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell could help resuming stalled peace talks with Israel.
Mitchell arrived in Israel Thursday and is to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian officials on Friday in a bid to restart the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.
"The Israeli government is not serious and wants the negotiations to enhance its image and exist longer," said Jamil Shehada, leader of the Palestinian Arab Front, a faction under the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
He said the United States is unable to exert more pressure on Israel and has given up its promises to work on stopping the Israeli settlements and resolve the situation on the two-state solution.
Shehada was referring to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's remarks earlier in the month that called on the Israeli and Palestinian authorities to resume the peace negotiations "as soon as possible and without preconditions."
Last Sunday, Abbas also criticized the U.S. softening of its position on the settlement issue, saying when U.S. President Barack Obama took office in January 2009, he "demanded the full suspension of the Israeli settlement, but now there is a fallback in the U.S. stance in facing the Israeli government's rejection" to freeze the settlement.
The Palestinians refuse to resume peace talks unless Israel fully stops Jewish settlement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and insist that the negotiations must lead to a Palestinian statehood on the lands that Israel occupied in the 1967 war.
Israel, in a bid to break the dullness, announced last November to freeze the settlement activities for 10 months but excluded construction in East Jerusalem which the Palestinians want as their future capital.
Hani al-Massri, a Palestinian analyst, said Mitchell may put pressure on Abbas to accept going back to the negotiations, while Abbas would reject the U.S. and Israeli pressure.
Submitting to the pressure without a political achievement " would be a political suicide," al-Massri said. He believed that the United States wants to restore some confidence between the parties to prevent further deterioration.
Another analyst, Khalil Shaheen, said that Washington is interested in containing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict despite its failure to resolve it so far. Without controlling the Israeli- Palestinian issue, Washington won't be able to resolve any other issues in the Middle East.
"Mitchell's visit will be a test to the U.S. administration and Israel's seriousness towards the peace process," said Nabil Abu Rdineh, a spokesman for Abbas.
"The Palestinian side is ready to resume the negotiations immediately, but such negotiations should be on clear basis," Abu Rdineh added. (PNA/Xinhua)
ALM/ebp
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