The meeting between Israeli Premier Olmert and Palestinian President Abbas in Jericho is unlikely to achieve much, warns Khaled Amayreh from the West Bank While both the Palestinian and Israeli officials hastened to describe the latest meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas as "constructive", it was amply clear that both sides failed to make any substantive progress, especially with regard to the core issues defining the Arab-Israeli conflict. Hani Al-Masri, in an exclusive interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, expressed his pessimism regarding the outcome of such meetings. Al-Masri, an independent Palestinian columnist and political analyst, was critical of Abbas's political acumen. "I am really worried about Abbas's ability to withstand American and Israeli pressure concerning the long-held Palestinian national demands on Jerusalem, the right of return and the totality of any Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories," said Al-Masri who was also considered for the post of minister of information. Abbas and Olmert met in the small West Bank town of Jericho for more than three hours, 6 August, ostensibly to reach a conceptual framework as to what a prospective final settlement would look like. The two sides are expected to hold at least two other meetings before the proposed regional conference, slated to take place in November. Palestinian Information Minister Riyadh Al-Maliki described the meeting as "exploratory" and "routine", saying that Abbas, by virtue of being head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, was going to make every conceivable effort to reach peace with Israel. "The president is going to exhaust all possible efforts to reach a settlement with Israel that would lead to the creation of a viable and sovereign Palestinian state on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967," Al-Maliki told the Weekly. He said it was premature to say if the talks would succeed or fail, adding that "past experience with the Israelis" is not encouraging. This circumspect and guarded tone was further elucidated by Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erikat, who took part in the Jericho meeting. "Abbas didn't come to the meeting with a magic wand, and neither did Olmert. There is an agreement on a series of meetings to discuss the issues, including the establishment of a Palestinian state," Erikat told reporters in Jericho. However, when asked if he expected any concrete and substantive results to come out of such meetings, Erikat said, "let us wait and see." Indeed, Abbas himself underscored his own scepticism as well as the lack of certitude about the outcome of the Jericho meeting when he told Palestinian reporters in Ramallah 7 August, "we can only evaluate the results after two more meetings." During the meeting, Abbas sought to foster an atmosphere of good chemistry with Olmert. He thanked the Israeli prime minister for releasing 255 Palestinian prisoners, mostly affiliated with Abbas's Fatah Party. However, the Palestinian leader neglected to remind Olmert that twice as many Palestinians have been detained by the Israeli occupation army since the release of these prisoners nearly four weeks ago, though he did ask Olmert to release more Palestinian prisoners and allow some two dozen Fatah activists deported to Gaza five years ago to return to the West Bank. Abbas told Olmert that such "gestures" would enhance his public standing among Palestinians. Olmert promised to consider the request after checking with the "security services". Al-Masri, in sharp contrast, believes the whole idea of holding bilateral meetings between Abbas and Olmert is unrealistic. "Abbas is weak and he is being blackmailed by the Israelis. They are telling him in no uncertain terms that he must compromise and give concessions to Israel if he wants to maintain American and Western support. So he will eventually have to choose between political survival and saying no to Israel." Abbas sought to further endear himself to Olmert by telling him that he wouldn't talk to Hamas despite "the pressure" being exerted on him by Russia and some unspecified Arab states. He handed over to Olmert documents detailing PA operations against Hamas in the West Bank, including the arrest of hundreds of Hamas supporters and the capture of munitions and explosives. On 6 August, hundreds of masked PA security personnel raided the town of Shoyoukh near Hebron and arrested as many as 13 Hamas supporters. The PA said the detainees were suspected members of Hamas's executive force, but Hamas denied the allegations, calling the operation a treasonous act carried out on Israel's behalf. However, neither Abbas's stringent stance on Hamas nor the ongoing clampdown on the movement's West Bank supporters seems to have had any impact on Olmert's intransigent position vis- à-vis the fundamental issues, namely the internationally- sanctioned requirement for ending the Israeli occupation which started in 1967 and the creation of a viable and sovereign Palestinian state on the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Olmert's reluctance, even refusal, to deal with the core issues was apparent in the tone of his speech. "We have decided to expand the negotiations between us in order to advance mutual understanding, and formulate the framework that will allow us to move forward towards establishing a Palestinian state. Our mutual goal is to realise the shared vision between us and US President Bush regarding the establishment of two states for two peoples, who live side by side in security and peace," said Olmert. However, the Israeli premier didn't say how and when this goal will be realised. In short, it was clear that Olmert was not interested in reaching an "end-game" understanding with the PA any time soon, despite his public statements that he would like to see such an agreement "as soon as possible". Instead, the Israeli premier would want an open-ended process, wherein he hopes to enable Israel to retain the main Jewish colonies in the West Bank, especially in the Jerusalem area. Olmert hopes to "compensate" the Palestinians for his refusal to discuss a final-status settlement by easing up on the harsh living conditions in the West Bank, but not in the Gaza Strip, which has been reduced to a detention camp. On Tuesday, PA President Abbas told a Palestinian radio station in Ramallah that he hoped that living conditions would improve in the weeks and months ahead. "Many issues which affect the Palestinians in their day-to-day lives will be resolved," Abbas said, apparently referring to an Israeli promise to remove a few checkpoints and roadblocks and other physical barriers hindering Palestinian traffic and travel movement throughout the West Bank. Israel maintains hundreds of such roadblocks and barriers which effectively inhibit normal economic activities. Earlier, Israeli sources spoke of secret talks between Israeli and PA officials aimed at reaching, or at least formulating, a new declaration of principles pending the upcoming regional conference in November. The sources suggested that the Olmert government was trying to pressure the PA to accept a "long-evolving settlement" implementation of which would take many years, even decades, and would involve "understandings" and "arrangements" rather than a full implementation of UN resolutions. According to Al-Masri, Abbas could be willing to abandon Palestinian constants encapsulated in the reconciliation document, formerly the Prisoners' Document, though "he wouldn't say so openly. But the Americans would come up with a vaguely- worded declaration of principles that would enable both Israel and the PA to interpret it differently." "It is clear the Palestinians are very weak now, probably weaker than ever, and Israel and the US are trying to take advantage of this situation by imposing a settlement on them," reiterated Al-Masri. Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine castigated the Jericho meeting, calling it "futile" and "part of the Israeli stalling tactics". According to Al-Masri, the outcome of such meetings will be "a temporary state with temporary borders, while the core issues remain unresolved." Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Gaza- based government, called the meeting a hapless reproduction of the Oslo era. "We all know that the Palestinian people don't stand to gain from such meetings. The purpose of these meetings is to weaken the Palestinians and liquidate their national cause."
