False Dichotomies

“Saudi Arabia criticized Israel yesterday for setting preconditions for Middle East peace talks and urged it to accept an Arab initiative proposed in 2002 and discuss details later.

“We only hear of conditions from Israel about everything, but no acceptance. You cannot have negotiations like that. You accept the proposals, then you talk about this,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said at a news conference with visiting European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana. “This seems a ludicrous way of doing business.” Read on here.

“Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that Israel was willing to treat the 2002 Saudi peace initiative “seriously,” and said he supports a regional summit to discuss the plan.

“We have said more than once that the Saudi initiative is a matter which we would be ready to treat seriously and we have not altered our position,” Olmert said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

“We hope very much that at the meeting of heads of Arab states to take place in Riyadh, the positive elements expressed in the Saudi initiative will be revalidated and will perhaps improve the chances of negotiation between us and the Palestinian Authority.” Read on here.

“Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told a Palestinian newspaper in an interview published Thursday that Israel could not accept a 2002 Arab League peace initiative in its current formulation.

Livni said that the issue of borders must be resolved through negotiations, not be determined in advance, and pointed out that the proposal for Palestinian refugees contained within the peace plan was unacceptable to Israel.

In her first interview to the Palestinian media, Livni also told Al-Ayyam that Israel’s stance on the new Palestinian unity government would be determined by on its diplomatic plan. She also said the Israeli stance would depend on the extent to which the new government meets the three demands of the Quartet.” Read on here.

“The Saudi peace initiative, which calls for a two-state solution along the 1967 borders, must be used as a basis for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said on Sunday. Israel has thus far avoided official consideration - at least publicly - of the 2002 initiative which calls on Israel to withdraw to the 1967 borders in return for a comprehensive peace agreement with the Palestinians and other Arab states.” Read on here.  

“In his address to an academic conference at Tel Aviv University yesterday, Defense Minister Amir Peretz lauded the dormant Saudi peace initiative as a “basis for negotiations.” Read on here.

This week’s bitterlemons is devoted to the Arab League initiative, with different perspectives from all over the shop. Read it all here.

Finally, someone is providing some vision. For the second time, cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit has said that Israel should negotiate with the Arab world on the basis of the Arab League Initiative. Continue Reading »

Public pronouncements by Israeli leaders quickly get canonised. As a result, its worth occasionally commenting on them. Today there were some encouraging words from Meir Sheetrit, (Kadima) Minister of Construction and Housing, and Acting Justice Minister. Continue Reading »

GUESS WHOSE words these are: “Starting this war was a scandal… It was possible to solve the problem of the missiles in South Lebanon by diplomatic means… The offensive of the last two days of the war, in which 33 soldiers were killed after the cease-fire resolution had already been accepted, was a spin of the Prime Minister… The Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense and the Chief-of-Staff must resign…” Continue Reading »

“There is a new Arab League peace offensive.”  That was the headline of a tiny piece in Haaretz last week stating that the Arab League was preparing itself to propose a UN Security Council Resolution backing the Arab League Peace initiative, aka the Saudi peace plan.  This initiative calls for complete and comprehensive peace between Israel and all of the members of the Arab League.  The plan was backed unanimously by the Arab League summit of Beirut in March 2006 and reaffirmed at the Arab League summit this year in Khartoum.  Most Israelis remember quite well the Khartoum summit that said: No negotiations, no recognition and no peace.  A lot of water has flowed, even through the Jordan River, since then.  When I read the headlines about an Arab League Peace offensive, I had to make sure that I was reading correctly.  The Arab League Peace plan is probably the best deal that Israel could ever hope to get, yet almost no one in Israel takes it seriously. Most Israeli opposition to the plan is based on what is stated on the issue of refugees “Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194”. Israelis reject the idea of a solution based on Resolution 194 which the Israelis see as recognizing the right of return. What is new and important in the sentence above is the use of the word “agreed”.  This is the first time that there is a formal recognition that Israel must agree to the solution and secondly the agreement should be in accordance with Resolution 194 and not the usual language that Resolution 194 must be implement by Israel.

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