There have been calls for the international community to impose a new border, writes Michael Jansen
WASHINGTON’S ALLY Egypt yesterday summed up the Arab attitude to the collapse of the US effort to extend Israel’s partial settlement curb by calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state within a specific time frame.
Egypt’s foreign minister Ahmad Aboul Gheit said the international community should now impose the border of this state with minimal changes to the 1967 line and settle the status of occupied East Jerusalem.
His statement was in line with the 2002 Arab peace plan, which called for full Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab territories in exchange for full normalisation of relations between the Arabs and Israel.
Aboul Gheit also expressed the fear of all Arabs when he said that the Palestinian state had to be created before Israel’s settlement enterprise made this impossible.
Without a Palestinian state, the Palestinian people would face continuing occupation, second-class status in a binational state or “apartheid”.
His forthright comments were made ahead of today’s meeting in Cairo between Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
The Arabs are deeply disappointed over President Barack Obama’s failure to secure an extension of Israel’s selective and partial settlement freeze and express concern that the US does not have the will to press Israel to commit to a deal the Palestinians and the Arabs can accept.
There is also concern in Arab capitals over rumours that US peace envoy George Mitchell could step down and be replaced by Dennis Ross, a former US facilitator who is regarded by the Arabs as being too closely tied to Israel to be even-handed.
The Arabs were positively impressed by Mr Obama’s swift engagement in peace making in the Middle East. Mr Mitchell, who helped to secure the Belfast Agreement in Northern Ireland, was among the president’s first appointees in early 2009.
Arab and Muslim expectations were raised when Mr Obama called for reconciliation between the US and the Arab and Muslim worlds and by his demand for a halt to Israeli settlement activity on land Palestinians need for their state.
Israel, however, agreed only to a partial curb on settlement construction for 10 months, during which time Mr Mitchell was meant to achieve progress in indirect talks between Palestinians and Israelis on two issues – the border between a Palestinian state and Israel and security.
During these talks, the Palestinian side submitted detailed positions on both issues but Israel refused to commit to either, arguing that its views would be put forward in direct talks. During the three rounds of direct negotiations in September before the settlement curb expired, Israel did not submit concrete positions on either borders or security.
Now the Palestinians have developed their own “Plan B”, involving a unilateral declaration of a state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in August or September 2011 and a call for recognition of that state by the UN Security Council.
Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad has been trying to build state institutions ahead of the declaration while Palestinian diplomats have sought recognition on a state-by-state basis. So far just Brazil and Argentina have obliged, but others are likely to follow.