Ramsco's Women Empowerment Initiative Recognized Among Top BRICS Businesswomen Practices for 2025    Egypt, Elsewedy review progress on Ain Sokhna phosphate complex    Gold prices end July with modest gains    Pakistan says successfully concluded 'landmark trade deal' with US    Egypt's FM, US envoy discuss Gaza ceasefire, Iran nuclear talks    Modon Holding posts AED 2.1bn net profit in H1 2025    Egypt's Electricity Ministry says new power cable for Giza area operational    Egypt's Al-Sisi, Italian defence minister discuss Gaza, security cooperation    Egypt's FM discusses Gaza, Nile dam with US senators    Aid airdrops intensify as famine deepens in Gaza amid mounting international criticism    Health minister showcases AI's impact on healthcare at Huawei Cloud Summit    On anti-trafficking day, Egypt's PM calls fight a 'moral and humanitarian duty'    Federal Reserve maintains interest rates    Egypt strengthens healthcare partnerships to enhance maternity, multiple sclerosis, and stroke care    Egypt keeps Gaza aid flowing, total tops 533,000 tons: minister    Indian Embassy to launch cultural festival in Assiut, film fest in Cairo    Egyptian aid convoy heads toward Gaza as humanitarian crisis deepens    Culture minister launches national plan to revive film industry, modernise cinematic assets    Rafah Crossing 'never been closed for one day' from Egypt: PM    I won't trade my identity to please market: Douzi    Two militants killed in foiled plot to revive 'Hasm' operations: Interior ministry    Egypt's EHA, Huawei discuss enhanced digital health    Egypt, Oman discuss environmental cooperation    Egypt's EDA explores pharma cooperation with Belarus    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Peace process or real peace?
Published in Daily News Egypt on 12 - 08 - 2010

RAMALLAH: Direct talks between Palestinian and Israeli leaders are the most obvious way to achieve peace in the Middle East conflict. But history has shown time and again that a high-profile peace process alone is no recipe for success.
The Arab League is set to meet later this month to advise the Palestinian leadership whether or not to engage in direct talks with Israel. Palestinian officials say that there is no use in holding direct talks that are nothing more than a photo opportunity intended to create the impression of a peace process while avoiding any substantive commitments.
For Palestinians, the first step in real peace talks must include some accord on the basic issues of borders and security. The Palestinians have presented to their Israeli counterparts (through the Americans) a written offer that includes giving up lands occupied by Israel in 1967 and now populated by Israeli settlers. These lands would be swapped for other lands equal in size and importance. Israel has yet to produce a single written document outlining its position on the territory that will become a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Israel insists that any serious progress will happen only if both sides can sit at the negotiating table face to face. According to this view, Netanyahu's right-wing coalition might be persuaded to accept the continuation of the partial settlement freeze, but only if the Israeli public sees President Mahmoud Abbas and Netanyahu publicly engaged in negotiations. But the history of such negotiations tells a much different story.
All successful efforts in the Middle East conflict have not occurred in front of cameras and through publicly declared direct talks. The visit to Jerusalem of Egypt's then-President Anwar el-Sadat, and the ensuing Egypt-Israel breakthrough at Camp David, took place only after successful behind-the-scenes understandings. The public Madrid talks failed to bring about any breakthroughs, whereas the much more secretive Oslo channel brought about the PLO-Israel agreement. Even some of the most explosive situations on the ground between Israel and its northern neighbors have been defused as a result of understandings that often included neutral third parties.
Former United States senator George Mitchell represents a relatively neutral third party supervising the current talks. These “proximity talks” allow Mitchell to ensure that each side is making serious offers. If the proximity talks are replaced with direct talks in which the US is not physically inside the negotiating room, there is no guarantee that the stronger partner will not try to bully the weaker one.
Direct talks also have some well-known liabilities. Failed direct talks have often led to a spike in violence. Neither side, nor the rest of the world, wants that.
When former US president Bill Clinton tried to set up the second Camp David summit, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat hesitated. He felt that the situation was not right for direct talks. What worried Arafat was the possibility of failure and the potential of a blame game if the talks didn't produce the desired goal.
Clinton, who was embroiled in domestic problems, badly needed an international success, and assured Arafat that fingers would not be pointed at either party if the talks failed. But no sooner had the parties left Washington after the talks broke down than Clinton joined Israel's then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak in blaming the Palestinians.
That failure, and the emotional responses from both sides as to what was or was not offered in the talks, helped spark the violence which led to the second intifada in the winter of 2000. To his credit, Clinton and his staff decided, despite the violence, to make one last attempt in Taba, Egypt late in his presidency. That effort is said to have been the closest the two parties have ever been to a breakthrough.
It would be helpful if the Taba understanding or the more recent efforts by Abbas and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could become the basis for direct talks. The Netanyahu government has refused to agree to any such clear reference point before talks begin. The Israelis want talks without conditions, even though Netanyahu has imposed his own condition on the Palestinians: recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, and acceptance of a demilitarized Palestinian state that does not include Jerusalem and the Jordan valley.
Every expert on the Middle East agrees that the best avenue to a serious breakthrough in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations is quiet, behind-the-scenes negotiations. The biggest stumbling block for any successful conclusion is the public on both sides, so the more the public is kept out of the day-to-day talks, the better.
Of course, the public can and should be included through a national referendum in assessing the results once the talks have reached fruition and a comprehensive settlement is reached that both leaders say they can live with. But, until that happy day arrives, or at least until the two sides have reached the contours of an agreement, direct talks and photo opportunities should be considered counter-productive. After all, Palestinians and Israelis are no longer interested in the peace process. They just want peace.
Daoud Kuttab is General Manager, Community Media Network, Amman, and a former Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. This commentary is published by DAILY NEWS EGYPT in collaboration with Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org).


Clic here to read the story from its source.