Obama administraiton officials are pushing back against criticism that Tuesday’s Israel-Palestinian-U.S. trilateral summit didn’t accomplish much. Ben Smith and Laura Rozen write in Politico:
Reacting to the tepid response to this week’s attempt by President Obama to jumpstart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, two senior U.S. officials made the case Thursday that critics are obsessing over marginal obstacles while the sides move slowly but surely toward the negotiating table.
The officials, who spoke to POLITICO on the condition of anonymity, dismissed suggestions that Obama had backed down on demands that Israel "freeze" settlements, and said that despite public Palestinian combativeness, Palestinian negotiators even today are hammering out the framework for a new round of talks – the so-called "terms of reference" that have become the central focus for Special Envoy George Mitchell and his team.
"If nine months ago at least one side was unequivocally stating they wouldn’t return to negotiations, and now we’re in deep discussions with both sides on the basis to launch negotiations, it seems to me that clearly we’re in a better position than we were," said one of the U.S. officials closely involved in the talks.
“Settlements was always part of a means to the end of negotiations,” another official involved in the talks said. “We still think it’s important and our policy hasn’t changed. And the fact is, Israel is prepared to do significant things on this issue, less than we’d like, but far more than any previous government.”
The New York Jewish Week’s Jim Besser, in a blog post entitled "Final Status Silliness," is skeptical, to say the least:
Let me see if I’ve got this right.
The Obama administration wants to move Israeli-Palestinian talks directly into “final status” issues, which in case you missed the memo are issues so difficult to resolve that they were reserved for the last stage of negotiations.
It wants to do this after abjectly failing to get Israel to agree to a total settlement freeze or the Palestinians to agree to much of anything and without getting any buy-in from the other Arab and Muslim states.
Tuesday’s summit, which some predicted would lay out an aggressive schedule for new negotiations, was little more than a “photo opportunity,” the Washington Post said in an editorial.
How, exactly, is that great leap into the void going to work?
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
