After months of having no top-level contacts, Israelis and Palestinians had planned a symbolic event. At the end of Passover, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad would visit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Fayyad, the plan went, would come bearing a letter from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The letter would restate the Palestinian demand that Israel cease all settlement activity as a pre-requisite for talks.
Nothing new, but a little movement. The bar could not go much lower.
But even that turned into a fiasco. Fayyad decided to stay away. The letter was delivered by a less noteworthy delegation.
Now, the Pan-Arab newspaper Al Quds al Arabi reports that Abbas is furious at Fayyad for refusing to raise the profile of the event. And the two are not speaking to each other.
Not only are Palestinians divided between Hamas and Fatah, in power respectively in Gaza and the West Bank, but even the West Bank government is cleaved.
This matters because an agreement between Israel and Palestinians requires the leaders on each side to speak convincingly for their people and to have strong support. Otherwise, they will be too afraid to make a deal, to make compromises. And even if they reach an agreement they will not have the political muscle to carry it to fruition.
Also confusing, and troubling, are the signals from Israel. The Israeli government decided to legalize three settler outposts, “formalizing” the communities that had stood in violation even of Israeli law in the West Bank. The decision is, to put it mildly, not a positive sign for peace.
On the other hand, Netanyahu made another interesting comment about his position regarding Palestinian statehood. Speaking to CNN he said, “I don’t want to govern the Palestinians. I don’t want them as subjects of Israel or as citizens of Israel. I want them to have their own independent state. But a demilitarized state.”
Netanyahu has declared many times his endorsement of a two-state solution. But only recently he has started giving concrete arguments for backing the idea, lending some evidence that the decision to throw his support for a Palestinian state was not just politically calculated and insincere.
He recently spoke of demographic reasons why it is in Israel’s interest to see a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu also made another point, arguing that he is the one, on the Israeli side, who can complete a peace deal. “I think that I could deliver a peace agreement,” he said. “I could get the Israeli people to follow me.”
That’s an argument against those who say Israel needs a more centrist, even leftist, government in order to achieve peace. It is also a counter argument to Shaul Mofaz, the new leader of the opposition Kadima party, who has laid down a detailed peace plan of his own.
Mofaz proposes to quickly recognize a Palestinian state and urge the international community to do the same, but to agree initially to temporary borders, with details to be negotiated subsequently. The negotiations would aim to turn over to Palestinians an area equivalent to the pre-1967 lines with mutually agreed land swaps. It’s not exactly a new idea, but it’s concrete and it puts Netanyahu on notice.
If Netanyahu wants to gain credibility and pressure Abbas to return to the negotiating table, he should make a clear offer to draw back the Palestinians.
Netanyahu should tell Abbas and all Palestinians that he will make a firm commitment on settlements if Abbas agrees to return to the talks: Israel, he should say, will not take one more millimeter of land in the West Bank. And it will agree to that as an olive branch. Not one inch of new land.
Israel would commit to a quick negotiation of borders on which both sides already agree, so that the issue of settlements would largely be resolved. Other difficult ones would still remain, including Jerusalem.
Will Abbas accept? I doubt it. Abbas feels weak, presiding over a deeply divided Palestinian camp. But perhaps a more detailed offer from Netanyahu will create pressure, and even support, for a deal.
Will it work? It’s worth a shot, and it might create a little movement. With the bar so low, even that would count as a triumph.
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