Clinton: 'Direct peace talks can end conflict in one year'

By Jeremy Last - Thursday 26th August 2010


Israel and the Palestinian Authority will enter into direct peace negotiations next week for the first time in 18 months.

Throughout the week Palestinan leaders have threatened to quit talks before they even start if Israel does not commit to extend its West Bank building freeze.

Top stories

email this page to a friend print this page email the editor buy this content Bookmark and Share
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, has insisted that any future Palestinian state must not have an army and has to recognise Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.

However Israel and the US have stressed that face-to-face discussions must be held without preconditions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will sit down with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the State Department in Washington on 2 September.

The planned re-launch of serious negotiations was prompted by an invitation from Clinton released on Friday last week, where she claimed "all final status issues" can be resolved "within one year."

"The President and I are encouraged by the leadership of Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas and fully share their commitment to the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security," Clinton said.

President Mubarak of Egypt, King Abdullah of Jordan and Quartet representative Tony Blair will attend pre-negotiation meetings.

In a statement accepting Clinton's invitation, Netanyahu welcomed her insistence that the negotiations "should take place without preconditions."
"Since the government's inauguration nearly a year and a half ago I have been calling for these direct talks," he said.

"The achievement of a peace agreement between us and the Palestinian Authority is a difficult thing, but it is possible. We are coming to talks from a real desire to achieve a peace agreement between the two peoples, while safeguarding Israel's national interests, foremostly security."

A 10-month Israeli freeze on construction in the West Bank is due to end on September 26, and Netanyahu has not yet indicated whether he intends to extend this moratorium.

Even though the PA dismissed the freeze as "worthless" when it was launched late last year as it did not include East Jerusalem, they have now insisted it continue.

"It's impossible to conduct negotiations alongside settlement construction," Abbas wrote in letters sent to U.S. President Barack Obama and the High Representative of the European Union on Foreign Policy, Catherine Ashton.
However, State Department spokesman PJ Crowley responded by insisting that the settlement issue can only be finalised during negotiations.

"None of these issues can be resolved outside of this negotiation," Crowley said. "We're now into direct negotiations; we expect that both parties will do everything within their power to create an environment for those negotiations to continue constructively."

Palestinian groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad predictably condemned the return to the negotiating table, with Islamic Jihad spokesman Daoud Shihab claiming, "these talks harm the higher national interests of our people and give the occupation an excuse to continue with its aggression and plans to Judaise Jerusalem."

Foreign Secretary William Hague welcomed the talks and said Britain would do all it can to back the peace process. He said: "This announcement is a courageous step towards a two-state solution."

And Tony Blair, the Quartet's Special envoy to the Middle East, urged both sides to bring serious proposals to the table.

Speaking at an Israeli academic conference in Herzeliya on Tuesday, he also addressed the damaging "de-legitimisation" of the Jewish state. He said: "The best answer to the de-legitimisation of Israel lies in the character of Israel itself and in the openness, fair-mindedness and creativity of ordinary Israelis.

"That character and those people built the state of Israel. They remain its guardians. They are why to de-legitimise Israel is not only an affront to Israelis but to all who share the values of a free human spirit."


Read the latest copy of The Jewish News Online by clicking here.

Bookmark and Share