Faisal van Saoedi-Arabië heeft verklaard dat Israël als gebaar van goede wil de bouw van de afscheidingsbarrier zou moeten stopzetten en de ontwikkeling van nederzettingen bevriezen, om de Arabische landen te tonen dat het haar ernst is met de aanstaande Midden-Oosten conferentie.
Israël wees dit eerste resoluut van de hand, maar over het laatste heeft men zich nog niet uitgelaten. In andere verklaringen heeft Faisal het nog slechts over de nederzettingen:
"It will be curious for (Palestinian) President Abbas and the prime minister of Israel to be talking about peace and the return of Palestinian land while Israel continues to build more settlements," he said. "At least, a moratorium on the building of settlements will be a good signal to show serious intent."
Israël wees dit eerste resoluut van de hand, maar over het laatste heeft men zich nog niet uitgelaten. In andere verklaringen heeft Faisal het nog slechts over de nederzettingen:
"It will be curious for (Palestinian) President Abbas and the prime minister of Israel to be talking about peace and the return of Palestinian land while Israel continues to build more settlements," he said. "At least, a moratorium on the building of settlements will be a good signal to show serious intent."
Wat Faisal zegt, is dat de situatie op de grond eerst in overeenstemming moet zijn met de mooie vredesverklaringen die worden afgegeven, wat aan beide kanten duidelijk niet het geval is.
Het is net zo vreemd dat Abbas praat over vrede maar de Israëlische operaties in Gaza tegen de Qassam raketten keihard veroordeelt, en deze zelfs een massaslachting noemt. Toen de Hamas geweld tegen zijn Fatah beweging gebruikte, had hij geen goed woord voor ze over, en hij eist nog steeds herstel van de status quo ante in de Gazastrook als voorwaarde voor gesprekken. Het klopt ook niet helemaal dat Palestijnse terroristen, mede van de aan Fatah geliëerde Al Aqsa Martelaren Brigades, zelfmoordaanslagen voorbereiden terwijl Abbas eist dat Israël meer gevangenen vrijlaat en checkpoints opheft.
Het is net zo vreemd dat Abbas praat over vrede maar de Israëlische operaties in Gaza tegen de Qassam raketten keihard veroordeelt, en deze zelfs een massaslachting noemt. Toen de Hamas geweld tegen zijn Fatah beweging gebruikte, had hij geen goed woord voor ze over, en hij eist nog steeds herstel van de status quo ante in de Gazastrook als voorwaarde voor gesprekken. Het klopt ook niet helemaal dat Palestijnse terroristen, mede van de aan Fatah geliëerde Al Aqsa Martelaren Brigades, zelfmoordaanslagen voorbereiden terwijl Abbas eist dat Israël meer gevangenen vrijlaat en checkpoints opheft.
Het zou niet onredelijk zijn van Israël een stop op de bouw van nederzettingen te vragen en het verwijderen van de buitenposten, en van de Palestijnen het effectief bestrijden van de terroristische infrastructuur en het inzamelen van illegale wapens. Bovendien lijkt het me zeer nuttig dat kinderen niet meer wordt geleerd dat het hoogste doel in het leven is om een martelaar voor het vaderland te worden en te sterven voor Allah.
Daarna kan dan een conferentie worden gehouden om over de 'final status issues' te gaan praten, waarbij beiden het vertrouwen hebben gekregen dat de andere partij oprecht is en zich aan zijn afspraken zal houden. - Maar wacht even. Er bestaat al een plan dat een dergelijke procedure voorstaat, en deze maatregelen van beide kanten verlangt. Dat plan heet de Routekaart naar Vrede.
Er is in dit geval bewust van afgeweken, omdat men de Palestijnen eerst een 'politieke horizon' wou verschaffen die hen ervan moet overtuigen dat onderhandelen meer oplevert dan vechten, en zo Abbas tegenover Hamas moet versterken. Vooral Abbas dringt er steeds op aan dat hij over de final status wil praten nog voordat de Palestijnse Autoriteit op orde is gebracht en de corruptie bestreden, en voordat men in staat is een gebied fatsoenlijk te besturen.
Daaraan wordt nu tegemoet gekomen, maar dan is het niet reëel opeens van Israël nog wel allerlei concessies van tevoren te eisen, en zelfs te suggereren om wellicht niet te komen als het daar niet aan voldoet. Ik hoop dat Israël dit Saoedi-Arabië in vriendelijke bewoordingen duidelijk zal maken, waarbij het aanbiedt dat wat haar betreft ook de route van de Routekaart bewandeld kan worden.
Ratna
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Israel will not halt security fence work
Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST Sep. 28, 2007
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1189411500968&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Israel will not halt security fence work
Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST Sep. 28, 2007
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1189411500968&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Israel has no intention of stopping work on the security barrier to lure Saudi Arabia to the US-sponsored conference on the Middle East later this year, senior diplomatic sources said Thursday night in response to comments made by the Saudi foreign minister in New York.
"Israel has its own security needs that we have to address," the official said. At the same time, the official characterized Prince Saud al-Faisal's comments, which included some upbeat remarks about the upcoming Mideast meeting, as "interesting," and added that Israel always listened to what the Saudis have to say.
The New York Times reported Thursday that Faisal said Israel should stop work on the security barrier and stop settlement activity as good-will gestures to assure Arab states and show it was serious about comprehensive peace talks.
Up until now, Israel has rejected Saudi conditions on participation in the talks. Jerusalem feels, however, that Saudi participation is critical in garnering Arab support to Israeli-PA negotiations.
Faisal stopped short, however, of making these "good-will gestures" conditions for Saudi participation, and also sounded an optimistic note about the meeting.
"It is not Saudi Arabia that puts conditions, or Saudi Arabia that is going to negotiate," he told reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. "Its presence there, or non-presence, is not the most significant issue." Regarding the planned conference, he said, "We have been shown a canvas with some brushstrokes that have nice colors in them ... but we don't yet know if it is a portrait or a landscape that we are looking at."
Based on the discussions with US officials, "there is a sense there is something new happening and this is encouraging" if it turns out to be true, he said.
Faisal said that discussions indicated that "the intent is to look at the final-status issue - the important issues, and not the peripheral issues.
This is encouraging. This is what we have always asked for." He said that the onus lay on the Israelis to show their commitment to a comprehensive settlement and that they were willing to take confidence-building measures such as freezing settlement building.
"It will be curious for (Palestinian) President Abbas and the prime minister of Israel to be talking about peace and the return of Palestinian land while Israel continues to build more settlements," he said. "At least, a moratorium on the building of settlements will be a good signal to show serious intent."
While the US hopes that Saudi participation will put the kingdom on a path to recognizing Israel, Faisal said this possibility was already outlined in the Arab peace initiative, which offers peace in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines, including in Jerusalem and on the Golan Heights.
"Recognition comes, but comes after peace, not before peace," Faisal said.
The Prime Minister's Office had no formal response to the Saudi foreign minister's comments, waiting to see the full transcript, and context, of his remarks.
In a related development, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met Wednesday with Tunisian Foreign Minister Abdelwaheb Abdullah, and was expected to meet Thursday evening with her Moroccan counterpart. Israel would like to see both countries, considered part of the "moderate" Arab coalition, participate in November's planned conference.
Both meetings took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting, which Livni is attending.
According to Livni's spokesman, the Foreign Minister briefed her Tunisian counterpart on the status of the current talks with the PA and spoke of the importance of the moderate Arab countries taking part in the process.
The meeting, the first with a Tunisian official at this level in a number of years, took place even though Israel and Tunisia have no formal diplomatic relations.
Livni also met on Wednesday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Despite the importance of Israel's relationship with Turkey, and the tension caused because Israeli fuel tanks were found on the Turkish side of the Turkish-Syrian border following Israel's alleged attack in Syria, the Foreign Ministry was mum on the content of that meeting.
The Turkish press, however, reported that the current Israeli-Syrian tensions, as well as the diplomatic process with the Palestinians, dominated the talks. There was no word, however, on whether the Anti-Defamation League's recent decision to characterize the massacre of Armenians in World War I as tantamount to genocide, a move that could impact adversely on Turkish-Israeli ties, was raised.
Livni held a breakfast meeting Wednesday with representatives of some 20 African states, and also met with Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani for talks that focused on the Iranian nuclear program and the situation inside the PA.
According to Livni's office, Giuliani said that were he still mayor of New York, he would not have given Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "free access and the platform" he received this week in the city.
"Israel has its own security needs that we have to address," the official said. At the same time, the official characterized Prince Saud al-Faisal's comments, which included some upbeat remarks about the upcoming Mideast meeting, as "interesting," and added that Israel always listened to what the Saudis have to say.
The New York Times reported Thursday that Faisal said Israel should stop work on the security barrier and stop settlement activity as good-will gestures to assure Arab states and show it was serious about comprehensive peace talks.
Up until now, Israel has rejected Saudi conditions on participation in the talks. Jerusalem feels, however, that Saudi participation is critical in garnering Arab support to Israeli-PA negotiations.
Faisal stopped short, however, of making these "good-will gestures" conditions for Saudi participation, and also sounded an optimistic note about the meeting.
"It is not Saudi Arabia that puts conditions, or Saudi Arabia that is going to negotiate," he told reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. "Its presence there, or non-presence, is not the most significant issue." Regarding the planned conference, he said, "We have been shown a canvas with some brushstrokes that have nice colors in them ... but we don't yet know if it is a portrait or a landscape that we are looking at."
Based on the discussions with US officials, "there is a sense there is something new happening and this is encouraging" if it turns out to be true, he said.
Faisal said that discussions indicated that "the intent is to look at the final-status issue - the important issues, and not the peripheral issues.
This is encouraging. This is what we have always asked for." He said that the onus lay on the Israelis to show their commitment to a comprehensive settlement and that they were willing to take confidence-building measures such as freezing settlement building.
"It will be curious for (Palestinian) President Abbas and the prime minister of Israel to be talking about peace and the return of Palestinian land while Israel continues to build more settlements," he said. "At least, a moratorium on the building of settlements will be a good signal to show serious intent."
While the US hopes that Saudi participation will put the kingdom on a path to recognizing Israel, Faisal said this possibility was already outlined in the Arab peace initiative, which offers peace in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines, including in Jerusalem and on the Golan Heights.
"Recognition comes, but comes after peace, not before peace," Faisal said.
The Prime Minister's Office had no formal response to the Saudi foreign minister's comments, waiting to see the full transcript, and context, of his remarks.
In a related development, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met Wednesday with Tunisian Foreign Minister Abdelwaheb Abdullah, and was expected to meet Thursday evening with her Moroccan counterpart. Israel would like to see both countries, considered part of the "moderate" Arab coalition, participate in November's planned conference.
Both meetings took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting, which Livni is attending.
According to Livni's spokesman, the Foreign Minister briefed her Tunisian counterpart on the status of the current talks with the PA and spoke of the importance of the moderate Arab countries taking part in the process.
The meeting, the first with a Tunisian official at this level in a number of years, took place even though Israel and Tunisia have no formal diplomatic relations.
Livni also met on Wednesday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Despite the importance of Israel's relationship with Turkey, and the tension caused because Israeli fuel tanks were found on the Turkish side of the Turkish-Syrian border following Israel's alleged attack in Syria, the Foreign Ministry was mum on the content of that meeting.
The Turkish press, however, reported that the current Israeli-Syrian tensions, as well as the diplomatic process with the Palestinians, dominated the talks. There was no word, however, on whether the Anti-Defamation League's recent decision to characterize the massacre of Armenians in World War I as tantamount to genocide, a move that could impact adversely on Turkish-Israeli ties, was raised.
Livni held a breakfast meeting Wednesday with representatives of some 20 African states, and also met with Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani for talks that focused on the Iranian nuclear program and the situation inside the PA.
According to Livni's office, Giuliani said that were he still mayor of New York, he would not have given Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "free access and the platform" he received this week in the city.
AP contributed to this report.
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