Printer version
Analysis
Netanyahu’s Moves Spark Debate on Intentions
Ethan Bronner (The New York Times)An offer on Monday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu … to freeze West Bank Jewish settlements in exchange for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state—instantly rejected by the Palestinians— was the latest complex maneuver engendering debate about his intentions. The offer … was aimed either at keeping talks with the Palestinians alive and his right-wing coalition partners in check, or at seeking to shift the burden of failure to the Palestinians and escape blame should the talks wither
Palestinian Dream City Hits Snag From Israel
Ben Hubbard (The Associated Press)It is billed as a symbol of the future Palestine: a modern, middle-class city of orderly streets, parks and shopping plazas rising in the hills of the West Bank, ready for independence, affluence and peace. But the $800-million project has hit a snag: Palestinians say construction of the city of Rawabi depends on getting an access road, which can’t go ahead without Israeli permission. …
The Palestinian Authority asked Israel last year for jurisdiction over the strip of land needed, and
No to a Third Intifada
Hussein Ibish, senior fellow, American Task Force on Palestine (Common Ground News Service)The prospect of a breakdown again raises the specter of another intifada, since many Palestinians may conclude that the occupation is either permanent or that diplomacy is simply an ineffective tool in resolving it and that a new uprising is the only remaining way to pressure Israel. … [I]t is essential that Palestinians do not turn to, or allow themselves to be sucked into, another round of violence. … [T]he consequences of the second intifada were disastrous for the Palestinian
Heard on the Street
An Alignment of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Efforts
Tony Blair, Quartet representative and former British prime minister, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy 2010 Scholar-Statesman Award Dinner, remarks, October 5, 2010:
“The problem is not that you couldn’t resolve borders or even very tricky issues like Jerusalem and refugees. You could. I think the problem is that you have to get an alignment between the reality on the ground and the prospect of peace. And by that I mean that, essentially, both sides have a reality-on-the-ground issue. For the Israelis it’s security, and for the Palestinians it’s occupation. And the two are linked. And the one thing that should give us hope over these past two or three years—this is what I’ve been helping do, but the credit should go to Prime Minister Fayad and the Palestinian Authority. This idea of building the Palestinian state from the bottom-up I think is absolutely essential because a state is not just about borders. It’s about governance. It’s about institutional capacity. It’s about security and the rule of law, you know? It’s about the economy. And in my view the way to resolve is to get a political negotiation top-down that is being met by this building of the state and its effectiveness from the bottom up. And you know the fact of the matter is, if the Palestinians can run their territory with one rule of law, one security force, in a way that gives Israel confidence, then we can get peace.”
Background Basics
Understanding the Arab League Follow-Up Committee
Official Name: League of Arab States’ Follow-Up Committee on the Arab Peace Initiative
Members: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the Secretary General of the Arab League
Origins and Mandate: Members of the Arab League adopted the Arab Peace Initiative at the 2002 Beirut Summit. The document mentioned the need to form a separate, smaller committee to gather support for the plan. Later, two groups were formed to that end: the follow-up