Eminently possible

George Mitchell, the US envoy to the region with a special brief to kick-start meaningful talks between Palestinians and Israelis, has his work cut out for him.

Today will be crucial. Mitchell will hold talks with Israeli ministers, including Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman. The latter, a loose cannon with a racist agenda, may be dismissed, though not lightly, as a flash in the pan. He is unlikely to wield much sway on important Israeli policy decisions and his position as foreign minister, owing to Netanyahu’s insatiable appetite for power and his own ego, is no real indicator of influence.

It is Netanyahu that the US must be wary of. Netanyahu has not changed from the man who derailed the Oslo process during his first stint as prime minister in the mid-1990s. He continues to evade any commitment to Palestinian statehood and although he talks a good game, there is clearly no real hope for progress with him in charge.

That is, unless Washington seizes this opportunity to finally get tough with Israel. It would seem an opportune moment.

First, the presence of Lieberman provides those who are pushing to pressure Israel with a very real bogeyman. Second, if Netanyahu is open to anything, it is exactly US pressure. Third, enough is enough. For too long now has the US allowed itself to be persuaded by Israeli insistence that it is the Palestinians who are the real obstacle to peace. That road has led nowhere. Such an outlook is broke. So it needs fixing.

What Washington may not yet have fully realised is what the Arab world has long known. Israel is the obstacle to peace. Israel needs to get in line with international law on settlements, on Jerusalem and on refugees. That is all the Palestinians and the Arab world are asking.

Should Washington begin to insist that Israel abide, like any other country, to its commitments under international law, the US would find the Arab world and indeed the Palestinians, even Hamas, willing partners.

But action must come first. Mitchell should be wary of Netanyahu’s sweet talk, of which there is plenty. The US must demand an immediate end to all settlement construction, an immediate dismantling of settlement outposts and a scheduled preparation for settlements to be rolled back.

The Palestinians, backed by the Arab world, should also insist on this. It is not only just, it is reasonable.

Politics, it is said, is the art of the possible. This is eminently possible.