OFFICIALS INVOLVED in efforts to renew peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, suspended for 16 months, predicted yesterday that indirect negotiations will resume during the first half of May.
US envoy George Mitchell left the region yesterday after three days of what he described as “positive and productive talks” with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in an effort “to improve the atmosphere for peace and for proceeding with proximity talks”.
Mr Mitchell will return to the region next week, after a weekend meeting of the Arab League in Cairo, which is expected to give the green light to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to resume negotiations with Israel, via American mediation, for a four-month period.
Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, after a further meeting with the American envoy yesterday in Jerusalem, said the ball was now in the Palestinian court. “Israel wants to start the peace process immediately. The US wants to start the process immediately. I hope the Palestinians will want to start this process immediately,” he said.
Israel has agreed to implement a number of goodwill gestures, such as releasing Palestinian prisoners, removing some West Bank roadblocks and handing over additional areas of the West Bank to Palestinian Authority control.
Although Mr Netanyahu resisted American pressure to halt construction in east Jerusalem, he has reportedly made verbal promises that there will be no “significant provocations” concerning new building projects in east Jerusalem. Right-wing Israeli ministers welcomed the prime minister’s steadfast position on east Jerusalem, viewed by Palestinians as the future capital of their independent state.
National infrastructure minister Uzi Landau, speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, said Israel cannot compromise on Jerusalem. “We must say in the most polite and gentle manner, that just like we don’t tell the British and the French what to do in London and Paris, they should not tell us what to do in Jerusalem. We will never stop building in the city of David. We are tired of Palestinian demands,” he said.
Although indirect talks are likely to resume in the coming weeks, there is little optimism that the sides will be able to bridge the gaps on the core issues.
There has been speculation recently that Washington may decide to impose a solution on the sides if little progress is achieved during the proximity talks.
President Mahmoud Abbas, who will meet with US president Barack Obama at the White House next month, welcomed the possibility of such an American initiative when he met with Mr Mitchell in Ramallah. However, Israel has always rejected third-party-imposed solutions, arguing that bilateral negotiations are the only way to secure a lasting peace.
Clashes occurred in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan yesterday, as about 50 right-wing Israelis marched to protest against what they termed “illegal” building by Palestinian residents in the area, opposite Jerusalem’s old city. Over recent years Jewish settlers have purchased buildings in the neighbourhood, causing tension with Silwan’s Palestinian population.