Clinton's "Arab Support Tour" Continues: Britain and Egypt Step In

On the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, external yet powerful actors continued giving statements on Tuesday. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was welcomed by Egyptian officials and U.S. Mideast special envoy George Mitchell in Cairo on late Tuesday. On the same day, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband held talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II.

Milliband criticized the construction of settlements in the West Bank and stated that these "illegal" settlements represent an "obstacle" on the path of peace. On the two-state solution, which requires East Jerusalem as the Palestinians' capital, Milliband said:

The current situation is obviously particularly tense in respect to Jerusalem. We view events there with considerable concern, along with our EU and international partners.

Any alternative to a two-state vision as a solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would be dark and unwelcome.

King Abdullah called on the international community to pressure Israel to stop its "unilateral actions" in East Jerusalem. However, the tone of Egyptian Foreign Ministry's statement went further, calling on the international community to protect Jerusalem from the "racist steps" being taken by Israel to change the demographics of the city. Indeed, it was reported by Haaretz that a Foreign Ministry spokesman appealed to the United Nations Security Council with the complaint that Israel has been trying to change the demographic in all Palestinian territory.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit stated that the peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians must foresee a Palestinian state. He said:

We want to have guarantees for the Palestinians ... that ensure them that these negotiations will not be used to waste time or to accomplish Israeli objectives against them.

Regarding Clinton's visit he added:

I have to wait and see the reaction of the American Secretary of State as she arrives in Cairo tonight, because she gave certain explanations last night. We have to get them ourselves and then consider the issue.

So, at the end of the day, all actors are pursuing that famous strategy: balance of power. On one hand, Egypt is accusing Israel on every front on the grounds of its Arab roots, while on the other it calls Clinton's recent statement - which made no clearer point than reiterating the very clichéd statement that both sides should come to the negotiating table - remarkable because it gave "certain explanations."

What about Britain? After abstaining on the endorsement of the Goldstone Report at the UN Human Rights Council and bringing a joint resolution with France to send the report back to Geneva instead of to the UN Security Council, the "negative" image of Britain needs to be revised and ameliorated now.

And those Palestinians and Israelis who are bearing the burden of this deadlock? Who cares?

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Despite US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's "positive statements" after her meetings with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, criticisms from the Arab side escalated on Sunday.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat denounced Clinton's proclamation of "unprecedented" concessions from the Israeli side:

What the Israelis are offering is not unprecedented. What would be unprecedented is a comprehensive settlement freeze by Israel... and a halt to Israeli policies in occupied East Jerusalem such as home demolitions, evictions and rapid settlement expansion.

Without a settlement freeze and the eventual dismantlement of settlements, there will be no Palestinian state to negotiate and no two-state solution left to speak of.

Israel's position on settlements was nothing other than a failure of Israel to implement a comprehensive settlement freeze as it is required to do under the 2003 road map. Since 2003, the settler population in the West Bank has increased by 73,000 settlers or 17 percent.

Erakat then targeted Washington, "If America cannot get Israel to implement a settlement freeze, what chance do Palestinians have of reaching agreement with Israel on permanent status issues?"

He told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that he believed Abbas was serious about not running for a new term as President, "He feels betrayed by Arabs, Israelis, some Palestinians, and to a certain extent by the Americans."

Later, Abbas' spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah stepped in. He criticized Washington and called for the Arab League to formulate a "unified Palestinian-Arab position" on the stalled peace process:

There can be no excuse for the continuation of settlements, which is really the main obstacle in the way of any credible peace process.

The negotiations are in a state of paralysis, and the result of Israel's intransigence and America's back-peddling is that there is no hope of negotiations on the horizon.

In Cairo, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned Israel that its actions in East Jerusalem and other Arab areas were "derailing" peace efforts that would have a "catastrophic" effect on the region. Abdullah and Mubarak "stressed the need for an immediate cessation of Israeli unilateral actions, particularly the building of settlements and jeopardising the identity of Jerusalem and holy places, which could only derail the chances of peaces."

On the other side, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for Palestinians to "get a grip" and drop their demand for a full halt on the settlements. Confidently using Clinton's "just start the negotiations with or without preconditions" statement, Netanyahu said:

We really hope that the Palestinians will come to their senses and enter the process. The peace process is important and is an Israeli and Palestinian interest. We hope that, as we are ready to begin the talks without delay, we will find the Palestinians hold a parallel position.

We've done things that have not been done until today, although while we are taking steps toward negotiations, we have encountered preconditions demanded by the Palestinian side, which were never demanded before.

Beginning negotiations is important to us, but it is no less important to the Palestinians. We are committed to negotiations, and we hope that the Palestinians will lift the precondition.