03/03/2010 Arab foreign ministers agreed on Wednesday to back one last round of indirect Palestinian-Israeli talks despite skepticism over Israel's readiness to revive peace efforts, Arab League chief Amr Mussa said.
The move, which was swiftly welcomed by Israel, came after months of US-led shuttle diplomacy, with Arab foreign ministers insisting the talks should conclude within four months. "Despite a lack of conviction over Israel's seriousness, (Arab foreign ministers) will give indirect talks a chance, for the final time, in order to facilitate US efforts, within four months," Mussa said after two days of talks.
"There was a consensus that Israel is not interested in peace, the proof being what is taking place on occupied land... acts which are meant to provoke the Arab and American sides," Mussa added.In their discussions in the Egyptian capital, the ministers agreed there "were legitimate questions about the effectiveness of the US role," he said.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem, who joined Arab top diplomats for their ordinary session on Wednesday, confirmed his country’s reservation on the decision saying that backing indirect talks was outside the committee's mandate. "The decision to go to indirect or direct talks is a Palestinian decision," he told the Arab League.Mouallem said "there is no consensus on the fourth item in the statement" issued by the follow-up committee concerning the resumption of indirect negotiations with Israel.
The Syrian FM said, "My country’s delegation stressed that such authorization of the Palestinian Authority is not the competence of the Arab Peace Initiative Committee, which exists to promote for the Arab initiative and not to give cover for any Palestinian decision. The decision to go to negotiations directly or indirectly is a Palestinian decision."
Negotiations have been on ice since Israel launched a devastating attack on the Gaza Strip in December 2008 killing over 1400 Palestinians, including 420 children and injuring more than 5300 others.
The Palestinians have said they will only return to the negotiating table if Israel first halts all settlement construction in the occupied West Bank. But Israel has agreed only to a 10-month freeze that excludes public buildings and annexed Arab east Jerusalem, failing to satisfy the Palestinians.
US Middle East envoy George Mitchell proposed US-brokered indirect talks as a way of getting around the deadlock.
Israel welcomed the Arab ministers' endorsement of indirect talks. "We welcome this decision," Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, responding to a decision by Arab foreign ministers in Cairo to back the resumption of stalled talks but on an indirect basis.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu has been calling for the resumption of talks for some time and we hope now that the talks can move forward," Regev added.
The ministers said the talks should be based on the principles of a 2002 Arab peace initiative, which calls for full normalization with Israel in exchange for a complete withdrawal by Israel from Arab land, the creation of a Palestinian state and an "equitable" solution for Palestinian refugees.
Negotiations must "adhere to Arab principles defined by the Arab peace initiative," Oman's top diplomat Yusef bin Alawi bin Abdullah told reporters on Tuesday.
Going into Tuesday's consultations with the Arab ministers, Abbas had said he would base his decision on whether to join indirect talks with Israel on the outcome of the meeting. "We, the Palestinian side, will abide by what is decided at this meeting," he said.
Palestinian spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina had called on delegates to accept the principle of indirect talks. "Israel does not want to return to the negotiating table. But it wishes to blame the Palestinian side, saying that the Palestinians do not want to enter into negotiations," Abu Rudeina said.
"So we must put a stop to this pretext and reveal Israel's true position before the international community and the American administration."
He said the indirect negotiations would be through the US Middle East envoy, insisting that direct negotiations were not on the agenda.
There has been no let-up in Israeli settlement construction outside the limited 10-month moratorium Netanyahu announced in November.
On Friday, Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the government had given the green light for 600 new homes in an Israeli settlement in occupied east Jerusalem.
The Arab Follow-Up Committee draws representatives from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, as well as the Palestinian Authority.
For its part, the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, warned Abbas on Wednesday not to return to even indirect peace talks with Israel because they would "only lead to failure."
"The alternative is for Abbas to return to the patriotic option, to what the Arabs support and the Palestinians desire, the option of steadfastness and resistance," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP.
[ 03/03/2010 - 05:48 PM ]
Damascus, (PIC)-- Ezzet Al-Resheq, political bureau member of the Hamas Movement, on Wednesday criticized the Arab follow up committee’s decision to allow indirect talks between the PA in Ramallah and the Israeli occupation authority (IOA).
Resheq, in a press statement, said that Hamas rejects direct and indirect talks with the IOA, because such talks are futile and lead to nothing.
The Arab committee’s endorsement of four months of talks with the IOA would only provide a cover for the IOA to continue in its judaization of Islamic holy shrines and occupied Jerusalem, he elaborated.
Resheq noted that the IOA was imposing new conditions such as rejecting the right of return for Palestinian refugees, demanding recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and keeping Jerusalem out of the negotiations, describing as a “big sin” the return to negotiations in light of those new stands.
He said that Mahmoud Abbas, the PA chief whose term in office had expired more than a year ago, should have shown flexibility in the national reconciliation rather than with the enemy of his people.
For his part, Dr. Sami Abu Zurhi, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, told the PIC that resuming talks with the IOA was a national crime.
He opined that negotiations with the IOA would only lead to more failure, adding that the return of Abbas to the national option of resistance and steadfastness is the alternative to those fruitless negotiations.
A responsible source in Hamas expressed dismay in a statement in Damascus on Wednesday over the Arab decision, adding that Abbas was bowing anew to American conditions.
He added that futile negotiations in the pasts 18 years did not yield any fruit so what the Arabs are expecting from a four months period.
The Arab League secretary general Amr Mousa said following a meeting for the follow up committee that all were convinced that negotiations under the present circumstances were useless , however, it was decided to give a chance for indirect negotiations for a limited period of four months after which the Arabs would go to the UN Security Council if the talks failed.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
No comments:
Post a Comment