US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton must have been very disappointed when she returned home last week virtually empty handed. She was not able to announce that the Israeli and Palestinian leaders with whom she had 11 sessions had agreed on a formula for maintaining the moratorium on building new Israeli colonies in the occupied West Bank.
And all this despite the pleas of President Barack Obama and herself for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the 10-month ban, even for a short period, on additional construction in the Occupied Territories, to which some 500,000 Israeli colonists have moved since the 1967 Arab-Israel war. The ban expires on September 30.
"It takes time, all of this is complicated," Clinton explained feebly. "But where we sit now, it would be useful for some extension, it would be extremely useful. And I don't think a limited extension would undermine the process going forward."
The main reason for the failure was seen as Netanyahu's timidness or unwillingness to confront the right-wing elements within his coalition government who have lately come up with proposals that some Palestinians see as "another stage of ethnic cleansing". Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the ultra-right-wing group, Yisrael Beitenu (Israel is our home), is now insisting on a shift in the long-held principle of the peace talks which, he explained "must not be land for peace, but an exchange of land and people".
In other words, Lieberman wants Israel's Arab citizens, numbering about 1.5 million or one-fifth of the country's population, to end up within the projected Palestinian state, while the Israeli colonies in the West Bank will be incorporated into Israel.
Latest proposal
Adding fuel to the fire, Israeli officials have lately come up with another absurd suggestion, probably borrowed from — of all people — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who wants to exchange two American hikers who reportedly strayed into Iran for a few Iranians held in the US.
The Israelis are floating the idea of a trade in which they would extend the moratorium on colonial expansion in exchange for the release of Jonathan Jay Pollard, the American who pleaded guilty to spying for Israel and is serving a life term in an American jail.
The Palestinian National Authority president, in turn, has his own share of domestic problems. Growing opposition to his negotiating stance has been championed by several groups, including Hamas, the Islamist resistance group that now maintains control of the Gaza Strip, where about 40 per cent of all Palestinians under the Palestinian National Authority live. But Mahmoud Abbas' seemingly weak negotiating position is strengthened by his commitment that whatever agreement he reaches with Israel will be subject to a referendum.
Gentle persuasion
All this aside, both Netanyahu and Abbas would benefit from some American pressure. The Obama administration could whisper into Netanyahu's ear that he needs to expand his government in order to weaken the extremists within his ranks, since by most accounts the Israeli public is eager for a final settlement.
The biggest push that Abbas could receive would be for the US to initiate forthwith contacts with Hamas, which once again has publicised this week its one-time readiness to accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Such dialogue would also boost American efforts to engage Syria and Lebanon and settle their border conflicts with Israel. Syria hopes to regain the Golan Heights and Lebanon its Shebaa Farms, both now occupied by Israel.
"While many in the Middle East bitterly resent the US role protecting Israel, and even more bitterly resent what they see as a US unwillingness to use its power to defend Palestinian interests, the centrality of differences on this issue year after year has harmed the interests of both sides," writes Jon B. Alterman, director of the Middle East Programme at the Centre for Strategic Studies in Washington.
"From a US perspective, less disparity would be a good thing [and] Middle Eastern interests would benefit as well," he continues.
The Palestinians, reported The Los Angeles Times, have not forgotten that, as first lady in 1998, Hillary Clinton was the first public supporter of the goal of a Palestinian state. Meanwhile, Barack Obama, who is in dire need of some good news to shore up his position at home, if not abroad, must realise that any Arab-Israeli settlement would boost his standing considerably. He would no longer have to worry about the results of the upcoming mid-term elections, which some fear may nip in the bud his dream of a second term in the White House.
George Hishmeh is a Washington-based columnist. He can be contacted at ghishmeh@gulfnews.com.
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