Ramallah: Following the massive public protests in Tunisia and Egypt, Israel can no longer ignore the fact that Arab nations are key players in the future of the entire region, with the Palestinian cause at the forefront of political life in the Arab world, said top Arab officials in Israel.
Holding the US responsible for Israel's uncompromising stands on Palestine, an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset said: "A wake-up call for (Benjamin) Netanyahu's right wing government seems to be impossible at present. This government will never change its stands without real US pressure. The US, which is the key sponsor of the Israeli occupation, is fully responsible for the dramatic unrest in the region."
Urgent and immediate progress in the Arab-Israeli negotiations and the establishment of peace is a must to achieve stability in the region, said the officials. The Middle East Quartet should carefully read the fundamental changes in the region and issue serious decisions in their upcoming meeting in Munich, they advised.
"Israel can't ignore the Arab states as key players in making the future of the region," Mohammad Baraka, a member of the Israeli Knesset and Head of the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, told Gulf News.
"The Israeli refusal, fully supported by the US administration, to all calls for negotiations and peace is a time bomb in the region," he said.
"The suffering of the Palestinian people under the Israeli occupation is the fundamental issue for political unrest in the region, without ignoring the political and social ingredients of the current movement of Arab anger.
"The Quartet should read and grasp what is going on in the Arab world and regain its role, which has been taken over by the US for its own regional and international interests. It is beyond doubt that the public movements in the Arab nations have their own agendas regarding their internal affairs and have their own political agendas, (but) with the Palestinian cause in the centre.
"This time bomb will explode in the faces of those who fail to read the new facts on the ground," Baraka said.
He urged the Israeli government to retain political logic in its stands. "We have warned the government several times, and are currently increasing the warnings, that Israel cannot live in an island in a hostile environment," he said.
Ahmad Al Tibi, an Arab Member of the Israeli Knesset and Head of the Arab Movement for Renewal, told Gulf News that that there should be progress in the peace process and an end to the Israeli occupation. "The current Israeli government denies Palestinians even the minimum of their demands," he said.
"The Arab nations (need to) see with their own eyes a real change in the US attitude towards them, their leaderships and their causes," he said.
"As long as the US attitude remains unchanging, there will be even further fundamental and dramatic changes in the region."
Al Tibi said the Quartet, which is holding a key meeting in Munich on Saturday (February 5) should realise the fundamental changes that are taking place in the Arab world.
"The Quartet should carefully bear those changes in mind and take quality and serious decisions, completely different from their earlier decisions," he said. "The absence of hope in solving the Palestinian cause will end up with catastrophic outcomes in the entire region."
Dr. Saeb Erekat, Chief Palestinian Negotiator, said in an official statement that the practices of the Israeli government and the refusal to meet the requirements for peace are leading the entire region to violence, chaos, extremism and bloodshed.
Tzipi Livni, Israeli opposition leader, told a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that negotiations were in Israelis' national interests and not a favour to Palestinians or Europeans.
Livni said the trust that existed between the Olmert and Abbas administrations needed to be restored. She voiced fear, shared by many Israelis, that a weaker Egypt could mean greater Iranian influence in the region, and Iran may exploit the current regional instability to further its own interests.
