Israel-Palestine: Way Forward Through "Low-Level Peace Talks"?

Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement on "new and interesting ideas", Reuters have quoted Palestinian officials that a US proposal to launch low-level peace talks, along with "confidence building measures" to improve living conditions in the West Bank, was handed over by US Mideast envoy George Mitchell on his recent visit to the region.

The response was mixed. "Holding a low-level meeting with the Israelis that tackles issues related to the daily life of Palestinians will not be an alternative to political negotiations," one Palestinian official was quoted as saying. In contrast, Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak painted a positive picture. He said that talks would resume in the next month or two and added, "On the surface the diplomatic process appears asleep and frozen, but I don't think that's really accurate. Under the surface both sides want negotiations."

Israel-Palestine: Obama to Netanyahu, Abbas “Deal With Your Opposition Within”
Israel: Defense Minister Barak “Palestine Peace Bigger Issue Than Iran’s Bomb”
Gaza: Israel Rejects Another High-Level Visit
Israel: Netanyahu’s “War on Evil”

After Israel's determination not to offer any concessions and the Palestinian Authority's insistence on those concessions before any negotiations, Washington's new proposal raises the question: Are low-level peace talks a complementary part or the collapse of the "tactical shift" put forward by the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? Three weeks ago, Clinton declared, “Resolving borders resolves settlements, resolving Jerusalem resolves settlements. I think we need to lift our sights and instead of being looking down at the trees, we need to look at the forest.”

Israel: Defense Minister Barak "Palestine Peace Bigger Issue Than Iran's Bomb"

Speaking at a conference in Tel Aviv, Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday that a continued stalemate in the peace process with the Palestinians poses a greater threat to Israel than an Iranian nuclear bomb. Having called on the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to sit on the negotiation table, Barak continued to praise Israel's responsibilities and "progress" and stated that an an apartheid political entity as a result of the stalemate will be the biggest threat:

I am proud to be a member of a government that has taken upon itself the responsibility of addressing issues pertaining to the Road Map.

We regard the settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria as part of Israel in relation to any final status agreement.

We have a paramount interest in establishing defined borders between ourselves and the Palestinians, that will set the stage for two states for two peoples.

Gaza: Israel Rejects Another High-Level Visit
Israel: Netanyahu’s “War on Evil”
Palestine: Conflicting Statements from Hamas on Israel’s Right to Exist

It must be understood that if between the Jordan [River] and the [Mediterranean Sea] there is only one political entity called 'Israel', it will by necessity either be not Jewish or not democratic, and we will turn into an apartheid state.

Following his comments on Palestine, Barak targeted the Lebanese government:

We are not looking for a deterioration of the situation in Lebanon, but if there is such an unraveling, our target will not be some Hizbullah terrorist somewhere in southern Lebanon. Our target will be the Lebanese government and its infrastructure, whatever that may include.

Only then did Barak turn to Iran came out of his lips. He called on the international community to put sanctions on Tehran and warned of a future nuclear arms race in the Middle East and beyond:

Iran is only engaging in dialogue in order to buy itself some time. The setting of a brief and clear timetable for imposing of sanctions on Iran is vital, and uranium enrichment on Iranian soil cannot be legitimized, since this will lead to an Iranian military nuclear capability.

A nuclear Iran will lead to an unrestrained arms race and every Third World dictator will know that his country can go nuclear if it tries.

UPDATED Israel-Palestine: George Mitchell's "Fail, Fail, Fail" Middle East Tour?

UPDATE 25 JANUARY: Following a second meeting with Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, US Mideast special envoy George Mitchell met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday morning. Netanyahu said after the discussions that "new and interesting ideas" were raised for the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians. However, he offered no details.

During the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu repeated, "I expressed my hope that these new ideas will allow for the renewal of the (negotiating) process."

The start of US Middle East envoy George Mitchell's trip to the Middle East this week wasn't too bad. He stopped in Lebanon to declare that the country would play a key role in efforts to build lasting and comprehensive peace and stability in the Middle East.

Israel-Palestine: United Nations “Stop the Occupation of East Jerusalem”

For the third time, Mitchell met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus. That brought the standard You're Very Important line as well: "Syria, certainly has an important role to play in all these efforts, as do the US and international community."


Then the Middle East road got bumpy. On Thursday, Mitchell held meetings with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The US envoy put out President Obama's vision of a Palestinian state alongside Israel in peace, "We will pursue (that) until we achieve that objective." In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's statement seemed to be guarding against bad news from the West Bank:

This issue is between Israel and the Palestinians. The US, UK, EU and the Arab League, everybody can work together to create a positive atmosphere, we will continue to do whatever we can, and we urge both parties to return to the negotiations table.

And on Friday afternoon, Mitchell faced that challenge when he finally met with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas was insistent on a full settlement freeze in West Bank and East Jerusalem before re-starting peace talks, and following the meeting, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said:

When we say a settlement freeze that includes Jerusalem, that is not a Palestinian condition. That is rather an Israeli obligation, and the same thing is applicable to our demand to have negotiations resume where we left them in December 2008.

Israel's Netanyahu, hwoever, put the ball in the court of Ramallah and called on the Palestinian Authority to "stop wasting time talking about how to enter the peace process." A statement released by the Prime Minister's office declared:

The Palestinian Authority are the ones that are preventing the re-launch of the peace process with their preconditions that they have never asked before from any previous Israeli government. The Prime Minister calls on the Palestinian Authority to sit at the negotiating table and discuss ways to promote security, peace, and prosperity for the two people.

Turkey-Israel: A High-Ranking Objection to the "Strategic" Relationship

On Tuesday, speaking at the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Knesset, Israel's military intelligence chief, Maj. General Amos Yadlin, said that Ankara's turn away from secularism and toward more radical Islam had led to a rift between two countries, "They are currently in the midst of a fundamental process of moving further away from the secular Ataturk approach, closer to a radical approach." And, referring to the mutual references of a "strategic relationship" during Defense Minister Ehud Barak's visit to Ankara, Yadlin added, "Turkey no longer needs a close relationship with Israel. There are still joint interests, but not the kind of close relationship today as there was in the past."

Israel-Turkey: Another Visit for the “Strategic” Relationship

Today on EA - Tuesday 19 January 2010

Iran: Strange happenings within Iran ---- newspapers being closed down but one quickly reopens; more pressure on President Ahmadinejad; claimed footage from yesterday's first day of the "Mohareb" trial. All this and more, including tributes for the victims Professor Ali-Mohammadi and Seyed Ali Mousavi, and is available in our live weblog.

We have two special "breaking" analyses, evaluating the Supreme Leader's latest speech as a challenge to Hashemi Rafsanjani and the detentions of key aides to Mir Hossein Mousavi.

On the advice of an EA reader Scott Lucas took a "reality check" on the Regime's position in Iran and concluded: Yep, They're Still in Trouble.

Haiti: The most recent posts from Josh Shahryar's Humanitarian Liveblog on the Haitian crisis can be read here and those from his News Liveblog here.

Israel/Turkey: Following Israel's Defense Minister Barak's visit to Ankara, Foreign Minister D-G Yossi Gal will today hold official strategic dialogue meetings with Turkish officials,

Israel/Gaza: Tzipi Livni appeared on CNN's Amanpour on Monday. She said she would travel to Europe "For Israeli Soldiers" - despite the possibility of arrest.  We have a transcript of the interview and will try to post the video later.