The failure of the French-sponsored conference that was attended by senior representatives from 26 countries, including senior French and American officials, has failed to outline the next diplomatic step for a two-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, now approaching 50 years. This disappointing outcome underlined that this solution may not be sustainable.
The objective of France in hosting this one-day event last week in Paris was not very clear, although French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault had acknowledged that the two-state solution was in “serious danger [and] we are reaching a point of no-return where this solution will not be possible”.
In turn, US Secretary of State John Kerry, who had failed in his long-lasting attempt at negotiating a settlement, also emphasised that all the participants at the Paris meeting agreed that direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians would be the only way to achieve a solution. This response mirrors a position favoured by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, along with his Palestinian counterpart, President Mahmoud Abbas, was not invited to the conference.
The expectations disappointingly focused on a new session towards the end of the year — not a very good time as the United States will then have a new government that will be preoccupied in establishing its administration and working out its relationship with the opposition party. In other words, the projected follow-up meeting may thus be held later next year.
An interesting point was raised by the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, who underlined at the Paris meeting that it was the duty of international and regional players to find a breakthrough since the two sides appeared incapable of doing so alone. Aaron David Miller, a vice-president of the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington and a longtime participant in the US negotiations with the Palestinians and Israelis admitted last Sunday in a column published in the Washington Post that he has not “given up hope for smart and well-timed US diplomacy”.
But, he continued: “I’ve abandoned my illusions of just how much America is able and willing to do to repair a badly broken, cruel and unforgiving Middle East. As the fix-it people, Americans have a hard time accepting when those directly involved aren’t willing or able to do so. But sometimes, it makes more sense for our diplomats and negotiators to stay home rather than look weak and ineffective while searching for solutions to problems they simply cannot resolve.”
What has been surprising this week is the trip that Netanyahu made to Moscow in an obvious attempt to divert attention from the Paris meeting and serve as a snub to Washington for its participation in the conference. At the same time, he has unexpectedly focused his attention on the Arab Peace Plan under which, the League of 22 Arab states offered normal relations with Israel, provided it abandon the Occupied Palestinian Territories. What has been amazing is that the plan, revealed in 2002, has never been discussed in an Israeli cabinet.
“In a familiar muddying of the water,” wrote Jonathan Cook in Mondoweiss, a news website, Netanyahu “has spent the past week talking up peace while fiercely criticising” the Paris conference, “the only diplomatic initiative on the horizon”. He noted that this was “the first time Israel has faced being dragged into talks not presided over by its Washington patron”. He underlined, “that [this] risks setting a dangerous precedent ... worr(ying) that this time Washington may not be able — or willing to watch his back”. Cook added that “even if negotiations fail, as seems inevitable, parameters for future talks might be established.” His conclusion: Still, Israel will try to ride out the French initiative until Barack Obama’s successor is installed next year. Then Netanyahu hopes, he can forget about the threat of two states once and for all. Cook’s column had this headline: ‘Israel wants a peace process — but only if it’s doomed to fail.’ Netanyahu keeps dreaming.
George S. Hishmeh is a Washington-based columnist. He can be contacted at ghishmeh@gulfnews.com
