The road to nowhere: "...The Palestinians are ready provided there is a clear agenda. Israel says an agenda means preconditions..."
"... Israel insists it is ready for direct talks, provided there are no preconditions. The Palestinians are ready provided there is a clear agenda. Israel says an agenda means preconditions. ... Few Palestinians or Israelis believe that direct talks would lead to a peace ... Netanyahu may benefit from a move to direct talks, countering the notion abroad that he is not a genuine peace-seeker ... (and Abbas you ask? He waddles, with a US-Quartet-Egypt-Saudi-Israeli intravenous!)"
20/08/2010 World powers facing a fateful deadline in the Middle East talks will invite Israelis and Palestinians to begin direct talks on September 2 in Washington, a diplomatic source said on Thursday.
Envoys from the so-called Quartet of powers – the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations – have been discussing a draft statement inviting the two sides to talks intended to conclude a treaty in one year, diplomatic sources said.
A formal statement is slated to be issued on Friday. "They've got an agreement that the talks will start on September 2 in Washington," a source told Reuters.
The Israelis and Palestinians were expected to agree to attend, and President Barack Obama would be present at the talks, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The White House declined to comment late on Thursday. Obama is currently on vacation in Massachusetts.
A formal statement is slated to be issued on Friday. "They've got an agreement that the talks will start on September 2 in Washington," a source told Reuters.
The Israelis and Palestinians were expected to agree to attend, and President Barack Obama would be present at the talks, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The White House declined to comment late on Thursday. Obama is currently on vacation in Massachusetts.
Earlier, diplomatic sources said the Quartet was discussing a draft statement inviting Israel and the Palestinians to embark on direct talks intended to conclude a treaty in one year.
The Quartet said in June that peace talks would be expected to conclude in 24 months, but the new draft says 12 months. The Palestinian Authority government intends to have established all the attributes of statehood by mid-2011.
Diplomats say the idea that a unilateral declaration of statehood could win support if talks do not start or collapse in the next 12 months is gaining interest.
The peace process resumed in May after a hiatus of 19 months but is stalled over the terms of an upgrade from indirect talks mediated by US envoy George Mitchell to direct negotiations.
Israel insists it is ready for direct talks provided there are no preconditions. The Palestinians are ready provided there is a clear agenda. Israel says an agenda means preconditions.
Resolving the snag over terms is crucial, diplomats say.
The Quartet said in June that peace talks would be expected to conclude in 24 months, but the new draft says 12 months. The Palestinian Authority government intends to have established all the attributes of statehood by mid-2011.
Diplomats say the idea that a unilateral declaration of statehood could win support if talks do not start or collapse in the next 12 months is gaining interest.
The peace process resumed in May after a hiatus of 19 months but is stalled over the terms of an upgrade from indirect talks mediated by US envoy George Mitchell to direct negotiations.
Israel insists it is ready for direct talks provided there are no preconditions. The Palestinians are ready provided there is a clear agenda. Israel says an agenda means preconditions.
Resolving the snag over terms is crucial, diplomats say.
The "invitation to talks" statement by the Quartet has been awaited since Monday.
Obama wants face-to-face talks started well before September 26, when Israel's 10-month moratorium on Zionist settlement building in the occupied West Bank is due to end. Full-scale return to settlement construction could sink the talks for good.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke by telephone with the Quartet representative, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, as well as Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh Thursday as Washington kept up pressure for talks to resume. She also spoke to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad late Wednesday.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said an agreement was "very, very close" but that details were still being worked out. An announcement could come as early as Friday or Saturday, said administration officials familiar with the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the ongoing diplomacy.
"We believe we are getting very close to an agreement to enter into direct negotiations. We think we're well positioned to get there. But we continue to work on the details of this process."
Clinton also spoke to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak about the peace process on Thursday afternoon, Crowley noted.
Obama wants face-to-face talks started well before September 26, when Israel's 10-month moratorium on Zionist settlement building in the occupied West Bank is due to end. Full-scale return to settlement construction could sink the talks for good.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke by telephone with the Quartet representative, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, as well as Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh Thursday as Washington kept up pressure for talks to resume. She also spoke to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad late Wednesday.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said an agreement was "very, very close" but that details were still being worked out. An announcement could come as early as Friday or Saturday, said administration officials familiar with the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the ongoing diplomacy.
"We believe we are getting very close to an agreement to enter into direct negotiations. We think we're well positioned to get there. But we continue to work on the details of this process."
Clinton also spoke to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak about the peace process on Thursday afternoon, Crowley noted.
Officials said tentative plans call for the Quartet and the US to release separate statements saying the stalled talks will resume early next month in either the US or Egypt. The US statement, expected to be issued in Clinton's name, and the Quartet statement would serve as invitations for the talks, they said.
The Israelis and Palestinians would then accept, the officials said.
Crowley declined comment on the specific arrangements but suggested multiple statements were in the works.
"As part of the Quartet we are prepared to demonstrate our support for the parties as they move towards this decision," he said. "But we, the United States, have always played a special role within this effort, and we will be prepared to assist the parties going forward in moving towards a successful negotiation. So we can do both."
The Quartet draft reaffirms a "full commitment to its previous statements." Quartet statements from Moscow, Trieste and New York this year called for a halt to settlement building.
The draft, however, does not explicitly repeat that demand, which would be rejected by right-wingers in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's center-right coalition.
It simply says that direct, bilateral negotiations that resolve all final status issues should "lead to a settlement, negotiated between the parties, that ends the occupation ... and results in" a state at peace with Israel.
It says negotiations "can be completed within one year." Success will require the sustained support of Arab states, it adds.
Netanyahu may benefit from a move to direct talks, countering the notion abroad that he is not a genuine peace-seeker.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, by contrast, has a lot to lose politically. He could be destroyed if he emerged from the process after months of talking as a failed appeaser.
If accepted by Netanyahu as the basis for talks, the Quartet invitation could give Abbas the backing he needs.
In Israel's coalition, attention is focused on the September 26 settlement moratorium deadline, with a majority of Netanyahu's inner cabinet opposed to extending the settlement freeze, but a minority seeking some compromise that Abbas could swallow.
One idea is to allow building in big established settlements that Israel expects to keep in a peace deal but not in those it would hand over in a land swap with the Palestinians.
Details of the timing and location of talks remained unclear on Thursday. The US officials said they were still shooting for around Sept. 1 in Washington, Cairo or the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm-el-Sheik.
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