PROXIMITY TALKS brokered by the US between Palestinians and Israelis were formally launched yesterday, following a meeting in Ramallah between Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Washington’s envoy George Mitchell.
The first round is set to begin in 10 days’ time.
Mr Abbas agreed to indirect negotiations after receiving authorisation from the Arab League and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation’s executive committee, which gave Mr Mitchell four months to secure progress and said there would be no direct talks until Israel totally halts settlement construction.
The Palestinians deeply distrust the right-wing government of prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and are determined to see how the Obama administration handles indirect talks before committing to direct negotiations.
Nevertheless, Mr Netanyahu seeks to make the shift to direct talks as soon as possible. He asked how the sides could agree on critical issues “without sitting together in the same room”.
The US agrees and has told Mr Abbas that Mr Mitchell will not present bridging proposals or submit a blueprint for a deal until the sides negotiate face-to-face. This puts pressure on Mr Abbas who has called upon the US and EU to impose a solution involving the creation of a Palestinian state in the 22 per cent of the country occupied by Israel in 1967.
Aware that the only leverage they possess is saying No, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has warned that if Israel builds even one settlement home in East Jerusalem or the West Bank, his side would return to the boycott which halted talks for 19 months following Israel’s war on Gaza.
Mitchell-mediated negotiations were due to commence in March but were torpedoed by Israel’s announcement of the construction of 1,600 housing units in an Orthodox Jewish settlement in occupied East Jerusalem.
Having received the go-ahead from both sides, Mr Mitchell returned to Washington to discuss how to proceed.
Dr Erekat revealed that Mr Abbas, who will head the negotiations, has dispatched a letter to President Barack Obama proposing to focus for the coming four months on borders and security. “The issues of Jerusalem and settlements are part of the 1967 borders, so they will be discussed and negotiated,” he said.
But Mr Netanyahu seeks to concentrate narrowly on Israel’s security and water needs. Reluctantly, under US pressure, he agreed to consider the creation of a Palestinian state without making any commitment. He argues that all of Jerusalem is Israel’s exclusive capital and has only partially, temporarily and unofficially suspended settlement activity.
To encourage the Palestinians to re-engage, the US has called on Israel to avoid “provocations,” free prisoners, remove West Bank checkpoints and hand over territory to Palestinian Authority control. However, on Saturday, Israel expelled to Jordan a Palestinian man who had been living in the West Bank for a decade. Four others have been deported to Gaza under a recent military order that classifies Palestinians without Israeli permits as “infiltrators”. Such actions could be cited as pro- vocations by Hamas and the leftist Popular Front which have condemned the proximity talks.