Attempts to give the peace process in the Middle East a serious push face enormous obstacles, reports Doaa El-Bey Representatives of the international Middle East Quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- met in Brussels yesterday to discuss a new US plan to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell and Quartet Envoy Tony Blair attended the meeting. In an interview earlier this week, Mitchell said the US was pushing for a two-year timeframe for a peace accord. News reports suggest Washington hopes to secure an agreement before the end of this year on the borders of a Palestinian state. Mitchell's visit to Brussels followed his meeting in Paris with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. He called for French support for the resumption of peace negotiations and discussed a French proposal to host a Middle East peace conference. Earlier this month Mitchell met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said that "serious consultations" towards reviving the peace process were ongoing. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated the need for both Israelis and Palestinians to resume peace negotiations. In a press conference with her Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh in Washington last Friday she underlined US support for an independent and viable Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, though with agreed swaps, and for a Jewish state with secure and recognised borders. Clinton also met with Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit and General Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman in Washington. Abul-Gheit told reporters after the meeting that he had come to the US to try and generate momentum for peace efforts. "It is crucial that we do so," he said. Egypt's plans for a resumption of peace talks include a complete halt to Israeli settlement building followed by a meeting between Egyptian and Israeli officials prior to the start of the first phase of negotiations which should include reviving the Oslo accords and Israeli withdrawal from area A, supposed to be under Palestinian sovereignty, and area B, which is under Palestinian civil control only. Cairo has also expressed its willingness to host a peace conference. Despite the push from so many parties, there is little reason on the ground to be optimistic. The odds are stacked against successful negotiations, says Abdel-Raouf El-Reedi, member of the board of the Egyptian Council of Foreign Affairs, not least because Israel's radical rightist government shows no sign of being willing to halt settlement building, let alone return any land to the Palestinians. The Obama administration has appeared increasingly unwilling to pressure Israel into halting settlement construction, which the Egyptian delegation to Washington insists is a prerequisite for negotiations. Clinton urged the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks as soon as possible, without preconditions. She asked the Palestinians to try to end the building of settlements through negotiations on core issues rather than conditioning the resumption of talks on a total freeze. The Arabs, meanwhile, continue to hold out for a complete halt. It is a demand Israel, which last month announced it would build 700 new housing units in East Jerusalem, adamantly refuses. Core issues like borders, the return of refugees and the future of Jerusalem are as far from being resolved as ever. Israel claims the whole of Jerusalem as its capital while the Palestinians aim to establish their state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel has repeatedly declared that it will not discuss the issue of refugees while most Palestinian factions continue to insist on the right of return. Any time frame for negotiations is also a contentious issue. Israel is opposed to fixing dates while Arab states insist that a detailed timetable is essential. Judeh said in his press conference with Clinton that they both agreed on the need to re-launch serious negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis bound by a timeline and a clear plan. "What we don't need in the region right now is another open- ended process that leaves issues unresolved and loose ends untied," he said. Mitchell is pushing for a final deal in two years, though Clinton has so far refused to commit herself to such a timeframe. "It might take as much as the time he [Mitchell] mentioned, but obviously we hope to be moving much more expeditiously. But first, we have to get negotiations re-launched," she said. Diplomatic efforts may be in full swing to revive the peace process but few people are holding their breath. Hopes are pending on a breakthrough during Abul-Gheit's visit to Israel and Mitchell's visit to the region at the end of the month. What hopes exist, however, could all too easily be dashed should Israel decide to launch another attack against Gaza. "Given what happened to it in the first attack in Gaza in 2008-09 and in Lebanon in 2006, Israel should think very carefully before taking this step," says El-Reedi.
