Palestijnen wijzen compromis af over vernieuwing bouwstop voor drie maanden

 

Het is een klassiek patroon: de Palestijnen wijzen een voorstel af dat goed voor ze is omdat het ook goed is voor Israel, en omdat niet al hun eisen worden ingewilligd. Het voorstel, dat oorspronkelijk in het kabinetsberaad van woensdag besproken zou worden, is daarom van de agenda gehaald. De verwachting was dat het met een verschil van een stem aangenomen zou worden.

 

Resultaat: de kolonisten blij, en de Palestijnse werknemers in de nederzettingen waarschijnlijk ook.

 

"The political benefits that Israel would receive as part of the package of understanding with the U.S. are not acceptable to the Palestinians because they ease some of the pressure on Israel and make it impossible for [the Palestinians] to apply their strategy of evading direct talks and of trying to force Israel into an arrangement through UN resolutions," added the official.

 

Het moge inmiddels hoog en breed duidelijk zijn dat de Palestijnen niet met Israel willen praten maar hun eisen proberen ingewilligd te krijgen via de VN en afspraken met andere internationale spelers. Die zullen op hun beurt Israel onder druk zetten om concessies te doen, zonder dat de Palestijnen daar iets voor terug hoeven te doen. Het moge ook duidelijk zijn dat zo'n strategie het vertrouwen niet ten goede komt. Het valt zeer te hopen dat de VS, maar ook de EU hier een stokje voor steken en de Palestijnen terug naar de onderhandelingstafel verwijzen: alleen daar ligt de sleutel tot een einde aan de bezetting en een eigen staat.

 

RP

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Israeli official: Palestinians trying to foil settlement freeze deal

By Barak Ravid - Haaretz

Published 14:34 16.11.10

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israeli-official-palestinians-trying-to-foil-settlement-freeze-deal-1.325010

 

Written guarantee regarding incentive package yet to be drafted because Palestinian Authority believes such agreement would lower its leverage and bargaining power, says Jerusalem source.

 

The Palestinian Authority is trying to thwart understandings between Washington and Jerusalem regarding a package of American incentives that would come in return for a new three-month settlement freeze by Israel, a senior Israeli official said Tuesday.

Five days after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered a series of guarantees to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in exchange for a 90-day freeze of West Bank construction, Israel and the U.S. have still not managed to consolidate a written draft of the proposal.

The Israeli official, who is privy to the details of the offer, said that the Palestinians have voiced their opposition regarding the deal to both the White House and the State Department.

"The Palestinians claim that the understandings reached between Secretary of State Clinton and Prime Minister Netanyahu benefit Israel too much and deny the Palestinians leverage and bargaining chips," the Israeli official said.

"The political benefits that Israel would receive as part of the package of understanding with the U.S. are not acceptable to the Palestinians because they ease some of the pressure on Israel and make it impossible for [the Palestinians] to apply their strategy of evading direct talks and of trying to force Israel into an arrangement through UN resolutions," added the official.

The plan proposed by the American administration calls for a 90-day extension of the moratorium on building West Bank settlements in return for a series of incentives including the sale of 20 new fighter jets to Israel and certain guarantees in United Nations discussions. The previous ten-month settlement construction ban expired in September.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was scheduled to meet with special U.S. envoy George Mitchell on Monday to be briefed on the U.S.-Israel understandings. He canceled at the last minute, however, claiming prior obligations pertaining to the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha. The meeting will apparently take place later Tuesday.

Officials in Jerusalem believe that the Palestinians are particularly disturbed by the following guarantees given by Clinton:

1. The understanding would prevent the Palestinians from demanding another extension of the West Bank construction freeze at the end of the 90-day period, and would take off the agenda completely any building moratorium in East Jerusalem.

2. The American promise to veto any anti-Israeli proposals in the United Nations for more than a year would foil the Palestinian plan to get either the Security Council or the General Assembly to recognize a unilateral declaration of statehood.

In addition, the Palestinians want the Obama administration to agree to set the borders of a future state as soon as the temporary West Bank freeze is over.

Netanyahu's majority in the cabinet coming into a vote on the proposed freeze will be a razor-thin one, officials estimated this week. Considering the wide opposition from within Netanyahu's own party and other right-wing lawmakers, approval will only be possible if Shas ministers agree either abstain or absent themselves from the vote.