Jerusalem – Washington’s special Mideast envoy, former Sen. George Mitchell, D-Maine, sped to Jerusalem Tuesday in an attempt to keep the U.S.-led Israeli-Palestinian talks from collapsing weeks after they began.
Israeli and Palestinian leaders re-committed themselves to the peace process even as they traded statements over the most recent crisis Tuesday. The two sides already have agreed to meet at a summit in Paris next month.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said that the crisis was caused by Israel’s renewed construction of Jewish West Bank settlements — communities built on land the Palestinians say is earmarked for their future state.
“Whoever decides to continue to build settlements and provide aid and protection to them decides to halt the negotiations,” Abbas said. He added that less than a day after he stood on the White House lawn and agreed to direct negotiations, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told reporters in Ramallah that the Palestinian Authority would “immediately cease and desist” all talks if Israel resumed its settlement building.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped that negotiations would continue, though he gave no indication that he was willing to extend the 10-month settlement freeze that ended Sunday.
“I believe with a full heart that it is in our power to get to a framework agreement within a year, and to change the history of the Middle East,” he said.
Jewish settler groups celebrated the end of the freeze by pouring cement to lay the foundation of dozens of new buildings.
Despite a strong Palestinian condemnation, U.S. officials convinced Palestinians to allow time to reach a compromise.
“We want the Palestinians to stay in the direct negotiations and we want the Israelis to demonstrate that it is in the Palestinian interest to stay in these negotiations,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in Washington. “Are we frustrated? Of course, we’re frustrated. But we understand that these are just very, very difficult (issues).”
Crowley said he hoped that moderate states in the Arab League would grant the Palestinians approval to continue the talks at a meeting set for Monday. He said Mitchell will be visiting the various capitals in advance of the Arab League meeting.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman appeared on a collision course of their own.
Netanyahu responded sharply to a speech by Lieberman on Tuesday that contradicted the official Israeli position on the peace talks.
Lieberman surprised the U.N. General Assembly with his own plans for a temporary peace deal — including a draft proposal for an eventual population and territory swap.
The controversial plan would transfer Israel’s Arab population to a newly created Palestinian state.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that “Lieberman’s address was not coordinated with the prime minister” and didn’t reflect the consensus of the Israeli government. “Netanyahu is the one handling the negotiations on Israel’s behalf. The various issues surrounding a peace agreement will be discussed and decided only at the negotiating table, and nowhere else,” it said.
Crowley said that the differences between Netanyahu and Lieberman should be left to the Israeli government to explain. He added, however, that the White House was “not surprised. We knew Prime Minister Netanyahu faces some tough domestic politics issues.”
Netanyahu heads a right-wing coalition that largely supports the settler movement. Though he’s asked members of his government to show restraint and not appear at the celebration rallies held across the settlements, a number of officials already have done so.
Members of Netanyahu’s Likud Party even organized a 2,000-person celebration to lay the foundation of a new building in the settlement of Kiryat Netafim — a statement to the Israeli premier that they wouldn’t tolerate any extension of the freeze.
“Netanyahu simply doesn’t have a lot of room to maneuver,” said Likud lawmaker Danny Danon, a member of the Israeli Knesset.
(Frenkel is a McClatchy special correspondent)
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.