Israel-Palestine: Criticism Mounts over Clinton Trip

Israel: Gideon Levy’s Plea “Washington, Stop Sucking Up to Tel Aviv”
Video & Transcript: Clinton-Netanyahu Press Briefing (1 November)
Clinton’s Trip: Desperately Seeking Israeli Concessions

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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.