PALESTINIAN CHIEF negotiator Saeb Erekat declared yesterday that there can be no resumption of negotiations unless Israel halts all settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. He stated, “If Israel stops the settlements, we will go back to direct negotiations,” suspended in mid-September.
Nabil Abu Rudaineh, spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, said the freeze must be “comprehensive” in line with an Arab League summit decision taken last month.
He observed, however, “An official Palestinian comment will come only after President Abbas hears formally from the American administration what is going on between them and the Israelis.”
The Palestinians and the league are waiting for the Israeli government to vote on a US proposal for a partial settlement curb that covers only the West Bank in exchange for a package of incentives. These include a gift of 20 F-35 warplanes worth $3 billion, a pledge to oppose any unilateral declaration of statehood by the Palestinians, and a promise that no further freeze would be required.
If Israel agrees to the deal, the Palestinians are likely to come under strong US and international pressure to return to the talks without an extension of the curbs to East Jerusalem.
Analysts argue that Mr Abbas might go along because he previously agreed to talk while construction continued in East Jerusalem.
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has flatly refused to suspend building in East Jerusalem, claimed by Israelis as an integral part of their capital and by Palestinians as the capital of a West Bank-Gaza state.
Ahmad Tibi, an Israeli lawmaker from the United Arab List, called the US offer “dangerous, as it enables the Israeli government to continue building in East Jerusalem while giving a green light for construction throughout the territories at the end of the three months”.
He accused the US of being a “partner in the greatest waste of time in history”. The US proposal would allow Israel to complete housing begun a year ago before the partial curb was imposed. According to Israeli figures, 2,140 housing units were under construction at the end of June.
Since the curb’s expiry, building has commenced on 1,649 units.
US sources claim that if the talks collapse, President Barack Obama could put forward a map which would give Palestinians 95-96 per cent of the West Bank and provide for territorial swaps so that they would be compensated for land taken by major settlement blocs annexed by Israel.
An Israeli intelligence official has warned his country’s leadership that the fate of the Palestinian Authority, headed by Mr Abbas, depends on concrete progress in the stalled talks. The source said Mr Abbas seeks to become the leader “who establishes the first ever Palestinian state in history” but he is “tired and fed up” and could retire within months if there is no progress.
The Israeli said that Mr Abbas has no obvious successor and the leadership could fragment if he steps down: “The situation now is very fragile.”
