Israel-Palestine: Britain & France Try to Contain Goldstone Report

Israel-Palestine: Clinton Praises Everyone, but No Progress on Talks
Palestine: Goldstone Report Goes Back to UN General Assembly

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The United Nations General Assembly is scheduled to discuss the Goldstone Report on Wednesday. However, a joint French-British statement, delivered to the members of the Assembly on Monday, is calling for the members to agree on three "red lines" already confirmed by the 27 members of the European Union. The "red lines" are:

- A resolution brought for the approval of the General Assembly will not include operational steps, like taking the matter to the Security Council or the International Court of Justice.

- The resolution would call on Israel and the Palestinians to embark on an independent investigation into the events of Operation Cast Lead, and the allegations of war crimes.

- The handling of the Goldstone report will return to the Human Rights Council, the UN body in Geneva. The parties will have to report to the council on the findings of their investigations in a few months.

Even if Palestinian leaders were inclined to accept these condition, they now face signficant pressure from their own constituents. On the other hand, it is also certain that there will be no sanctions on Israel from the Security Council since Washington, Paris and London had already declared their positions regarding the Goldstone Report. Welcome to the deadlock of politics....

Israel-Palestine: Clinton Praises Everyone, but No Progress on Talks

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On Monday, Palestinian officials reiterated their position that there will be no progress in talks unless there is a freeze in Israeli settlements. The declaration came even as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Arab foreign ministers, praising both sides in an effort to convince Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to return to the negotiation table.

After a meeting between Abbas and US special envoy George Mitchell in Amman, the chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said, "The President made it clear during the meeting that peace cannot be achieved with the continuation of the settlement activity." Responding to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's accusations of Palestinian "preconditions", he asserted: "We do not put conditions for resuming negotiations, but we want the talks resumed on the basis of the provisions of the road map, which stipulates the cessation of all forms of settlement activity in the Palestinian territories." Erekat added that Mitchell emphasized there was no change in the US attitude, which rejects the Israeli expansion of settlements.

Later, answering Arab foreign ministers' criticisms that Washington was "too soft" on Israel, Clinton said:

The Israelis have responded to the call of the U.S., the Palestinians and the Arab world to stop settlement activity by expressing a willingness to restrain settlement activity.

This offer [Israel's offer to restraint settlement activities] falls far short of what our preference would be, but if it is acted upon it will be an unprecedented restriction on settlements and would have a significant and meaningful effect on restraining their growth.

When either party takes any step that looks like it moves us in the right direction, even if it is not what I would like or I would prefer, I am going to positively reinforce that.

Clinton's Trip: Desperately Seeking Israeli Concessions

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Palestine: Goldstone Report Goes Back to UN General Assembly

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On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas in Abu Dhabi and with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem.

During their meeting, Abbas told Clinton that there would be no new negotiations unless Israel froze the building of settlements.

The chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Clinton had proposed a formula based on final-status talks, to be launched in accordance with an understanding on settlement construction reached between US Mideast special envoy George Mitchell and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu. However, for Erakat, there was no progress in the "frank and difficult" talks with Clinton:

This [proposal] is a non-starter. And that's why it's unlikely to restart negotiations. The gap between us was very deep and is widening even more.

This was a sharp contrast to Clinton's portrayal of her talks with Abbas as "very useful."

In Jerusalem, Clinton met Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to consider the future of the peace talks and the Iranian nuclear issue. Her strategy, despite the difficulties in Abu Dhabi, was to play up Israeli concessions regarding the settlement issue as "unprecedented":

What the Prime Minister has offered in specifics of a restraint on the policy of settlements which he has just described is unprecedented in the context of prior to negotiations.

It's also the fact that for forty years, Presidents of both parties have questioned the legitimacy of settlements, but I think that where we are right now is to try to get into the negotiations. The Prime Minister will be able to present his government's proposal about what they are doing regarding settlements which I think when fully explained will be seen as being not only unprecedented in response to many of the concerns that have been expressed.

Netanyahu blamed the Palestinian side by calling them as "the other side" and said that Israel is ready to enter into peace talks without preconditions but not "the other side." He continued: "We think we should sit around that negotiating table right away."

On the Iranian issue, Clinton warned Tehran that time is limited on nuclear discussions:

We are willing to work toward creative outcomes, like shipping out the low-enriched uranium to be reprocessed outside of Iran, but we are not going to wait forever.

Patience does have finally its limits and it is time for Iran to fulfill its obligations and responsibilities to the international community and accepting this deal would be a good beginning.

Clinton will return to Washington declared that the process for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement is still on track, but it is clear that Abbas is rejecting both the Obama Administration's rhetoric and the Israeli claim that it is "the one ready for negotiations without any preconditions". Abbas is under heavy criticisms, even from inside his Fatah Party, over his initial position on the Goldstone Report on Gaza and the increasing restrictions in East Jerusalem by Israeli authorities. There is no still reconciliation agreement with Hamas. On top of this, there is no progress in the status of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

So the Obama Administration's strategy, behind its public face, will be to use Abbas' position as leverage to get Israeli concessions. Yet, beyond the freeze on settlements, we still have no idea what these are.

To be blunt, how does Washington avoid a dead end in its Middle Eastern journey?