AN ANNOUNCEMENT on the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks is expected next week during the visit to the region of US vice-president Joe Biden.
US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who is due in Israel tomorrow night, will mediate the indirect proximity talks, shuttling between Jerusalem and Ramallah.
Bilateral talks were frozen 15 months ago during the Israeli military operation in Gaza, before Binyamin Netanyahu was elected Israeli prime minister.
After he took office, Palestinians linked a renewal of direct talks to a total freeze on settlement construction throughout the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Although Israel announced a partial 10-month construction freeze, the moratorium did not include building in east Jerusalem or projects already under way in West Bank settlements.
After months of trying unsuccessfully to coax the parties back to the negotiating table for direct talks, Mr Mitchell eventually settled on the formula of proximity talks as the best available option.
Mr Netanyahu told ministers yesterday that Jerusalem welcomed the diplomatic breakthrough, even though Israel would have preferred direct negotiations.
“If this is what is necessary to start the process – Israel is ready. I think that there is international recognition that this government wants to start a peace process and I tell you that we also want to complete it.”
Lawyer Yitzhak Molcho is expected to head Israel’s negotiating team, with veteran peace negotiator Saeb Erekat leading the Palestinian team. It is believed that the two sides will initially concentrate on the question of borders, trying to map out the boundaries of a future Palestinian state.
Hamas meanwhile has called on Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to resign, accusing him of “selling illusions” by agreeing to resume peace contacts with Israel.
Hamas politburo member Izzat al-Rishq said yesterday: “Eighteen years of talks with Israel have achieved zero. What is there to expect from an extra four months?”
Fearing that Israel will seek to drag out the negotiating process indefinitely, the Palestinians have set an initial deadline of four months for the proximity talks.
After four months of negotiations, the Arab League, whose foreign ministers on Wednesday gave the green light for the talks, will meet to assess the progress towards a peace agreement.
Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa warned that the talks were doomed to fail unless Israel halted all settlement construction. He said that in the absence of significant progress during the first four months, the Arab League would refer the Arab-Israeli conflict to the United Nations security council.
Israel's Ha'aretznewspaper reported yesterday that President Shimon Peres believes the current government headed by Mr Netanyahu would not be able to move the peace process forward because right-wing parties in the coalition will block significant concessions to the Palestinians.
The paper wrote that according to Mr Peres, only by bringing the centrist Kadima party, headed by former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, into the coalition, would a diplomatic breakthrough be possible.