AS GEORGE MITCHELL knows all too well, not least from his Irish peace process days, it is always thus: take the first steps into dialogue and inevitably someone will blow up a bomb or create an outrage to drive the already reluctant parties apart. The challenge is always the same – to persuade them to put their heads down, hold their noses and keep going.
Senator Mitchell, President Obama’s special envoy to the Middle East, was expected to arrive in the region next week to mediate a round of indirect “proximity” talks between Israelis and Palestinians. His first job now will be to overcome a new Palestinian boycott over what they see as Israeli bad faith in preempting negotiations by creating new immutable “facts on the ground”.
The hope had been that the way into the talks would be paved by US vice-president Joe Biden’s current visit. But he has been seriously wrong-footed by Israel’s announcement of building permission for 1,600 homes in Ramat Shlomo, an ultra-Orthodox community of 20,000 in disputed east Jerusalem, the second provocative construction approved this week. Only 24 hours beforehand both Israelis and Palestinians had agreed to indirect talks to end a 14-month deadlock.
The approvals have been deplored by Mr Biden for undermining “that very trust, the trust that we need right now in order to begin ... profitable negotiations”, and by the UN, the EU and Arab governments, some of whom have now withdrawn their support for the talks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims to have been blindsided by the approval which came from the office of hardline coalition ally Interior Minister Eli Yishai, leader of the ultra-orthodox Shas party. The latter, known to be unhappy about the talks, also claims, somewhat implausibly, not to have expected the decision from the independent Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee. But he defended it, saying east Jerusalem was not included in a 10-month moratorium on settlement building announced in November. Another cabinet minister apologised for the “real embarrassment” caused to Mr Biden.
Whether deliberate or not, this provocation must not be allowed to derail the process. There will be others, perhaps even more reprehensible, and almost certainly also from Palestinian “allies” which will enrage the Israelis. That is the tortuous, testing nature of such talks. But to allow them to be derailed would be, fatally, to cede control of the process to opponents of reconciliation. That will be Mr Mitchell’s difficult message.