EU FOREIGN policy chief Catherine Ashton said yesterday that Israel continues to reject an extension of a partial curb on West Bank settlement construction. “Those of us engaged in the [peace] process have been very concerned that the ending of the moratorium puts at risk the possibility of long-term peace,” she said.
Baroness Ashton and US envoy George Mitchell continued their shuttle between Jerusalem and Ramallah in search of a formula that could rescue talks resumed a month ago but suspended since Israel ended a partial curb on new settlement construction in the West Bank.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who is meeting leaders of Palestinian factions today, has said he will not negotiate if the curb is abandoned. But Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has rejected a proposed US package of inducements to renew the partial freeze. Although President Barack Obama did not personally endorse the package, put together by US and Israeli officials, he was reported to be furious with Mr Netanyahu.
In spite of deadlock, neither side wants to be blamed for the collapse of the talks. Mr Netanyahu said: “We want continued talks . . . we have a mission for peace.” Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat asserted, “We are not opposed to continuing direct talks. Israel . . . holds the key to resuming these talks.” He praised the Obama administration for its efforts.
Egyptian foreign minister Ahmad Aboul Gheit expressed Cairo’s frustration over the impasse when he declared, “Whoever offered the idea to freeze settlements as a main goal and priority didn’t see the real goal of the negotiations, which is to define borders. Everyone involved should be working hard to define borders . . . and then we can start looking at other items on the agenda.”
The Arab League, meeting on Wednesday, may call for the Security Council to address Israel’s stand.
Israeli columnist Nahum Barnea, writing in the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, observed, "The question of the freeze has become a symbol . . . President Obama views the freeze as a supreme test of Netanyahu's willingness to accept a two-state solution . . . Abu Mazen and the Arab leaders who support him view the freeze as a supreme test of the effectiveness of the Obama administration."
Separately, an Israeli district court ruled against the petition by Irish Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire to reject Israel’s 10-year ban on her entry imposed after she took part in a Gaza-bound flotilla at the end of May. Ms Maguire refused deportation pending the result of her appeal to Israel’s supreme court and remains incarcerated in a cell at the airport. She travelled to Israel to attend a conference of Nobel prize-winners convening today.
