 |
| English: Mahmoud Abbas (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The Knesset committee has
approved $51 million allocation to WZO (World Zionist Organization) settlement
projects. Freedom of Information Law does not apply to the settlement
division. This must give course of concern to the taxpayer. Whenever there is lack of transparency
and unaccountability which is not covered by Freedom of Information Law
then our eyebrows ought to be raised to the heavens with a big question mark.(Freedom
of Information Law 5758 -1998)
How the
money will be divided will be partly transparent. We shall not know how much
goes to the West Bank Settlement projects. This explains the acceleration of
building settlements in areas designated for the theoretical establishment of
the Palestine State thus making the reality of two
states for two peoples even more remote.
The way
that the taxpayer's money for these illegal settlement projects in the West Bank will remain clandestine. When Netanyahu pays
lip service to the two-state solution, we cannot take him at his word as the
reality on the ground is the opposite.
Israel is no less credible than their
Palestinian partners in the stalled peace talks. Both sides are seeking an
opportunity to blame the other for the breakdown of the John Kerry mediated
talks. Both parties are not carrying out the wishes of their respective peoples
for a peace agreement, each for their own partisan reasons. Kerry is
on record blaming Israel for the failure of the talks.
The demand
for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish State is insipid
and childish. This has never been a condition for other countries to establish diplomatic
relations with Israel.
Therefore it cannot be seen as a threat to the status quo of Israel.
The talks
have reached a stalemate as expected. Even John Kerry, like his predecessors,
is fatigued and frustrated. The blame game is on the cards and the tilt is not
in Israel's
failure for two main reasons which are:
- The continuation of building settlements in the occupied West Bank.
- Israel had not carried out its promise of the fourth phase of freeing Palestinian prisoners.
The peace
talks have collapsed and John Kerry has given up. This really comes as no
surprise. Both sides are to blame. However, it seems that both sides are not
putting in enough effort to avoid the collapse. Israel had refused to free the
fourth round of prisoners as they had promised and at the same time the illegal
settler-oriented Minister of Housing, Uri Ariel, decided that the time was right to announce
the building of another 700 housing units in disputed areas. Mahmoud Abbas has
decided to take the whole matter to the UN as well as demanding membership of
15 UN agencies, as if Palestine
is a fully fledged member of the UN. If Tzippi Livni blames the Housing
Minister for responsibility of the talks collapsing then we must take her
seriously. Perhaps it is not a bad idea if the Palestinians take the issue to
the UN. It could jolt the talks back on track even though the chance is slim.
The
collapse of the peace negotiations between the parties is because of futility.
The talks were doomed from the start. However, it is not easy to blame either
side equally as each side has its extremists, who are against a peace deal
being signed.
There is a
big question mark as to whether a peace treaty would have been signed had Israel agreed
to the freeing of prisoners and the freezing of settlements. This scenario had
occurred so often in the past with the players backing down from signing an
agreement. This latest round of negotiations has reached the same old deadlock.
The extremists in the Palestinian camp as well as extremists in the Israeli
Government coalition are the two parties that determined the failure of the
Kerry-mediated talks.
Israel would not be able to sign a peace agreement nor would the Palestinians. It is not because Uncle Sam is watching, but rather Hamas on the Palestinian side and Bennett and Company on the Israeli side. Netanyahu would like the talks to continue indefinitely. He will never agree to give up the West Bank, hence the continuous building of settlements. By continuing with talks “until the Messiah comes", Netanyahu safeguards his coalition. If he signs an agreement with the Palestinians, the right wing factions in his coalition will leave. On the Palestinian side, if Mahmoud Abbas signs an agreement with Israel, he will be viewed as a traitor by the hardliners, including Hamas. Paradoxically the negotiation charade, if it did not breakdown, would continue deadlocked indefinitely achieving nothing but photo opportunities. The whole peace negotiation process is an exercise in polemics to satisfy Uncle Sam. This has been going on since the moribund Oslo Agreements and it will continue after a period of negotiation cessation. Maybe a new US star negotiator will arise in the future to replace Kerry after the next US Presidential Elections.
At the
same time, deadlock and stalemate is the name of the game. There is no
imaginative leadership on either side willing to make the necessary concessions
to achieve an end to this cruel, festering conflict.
John Kerry
stated: "You can lead a horse to water but you cannot force him to
drink".
No comments:
Post a Comment