It is astonishing that the US Mideast peace team has finally reportedly acknowledged that it was the issue of continued illegal Israeli colonies in the occupied West Bank that was “largely to blame” for the failure last month of the Washington-sponsored peace negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis. That comment was included in an amazing exclusive interview that Nahum Barnea of Ynetnews.com had with “American officials directly connected to the [peace] talks” and which ought to be read by anyone interested in the decades-long conflict that followed the termination of the British mandate over Palestine in 1948 and the recommendation of the United Nations to create the states of Palestine and Israel in the Holy Land.
The “senior” American officials had one condition — “in line with instructions they had received — that I did not name them,” reported Barnea. This position is baffling since sharing this damaging information could, in the long-run, contribute to a final settlement. Even US Secretary of State John Kerry, who led the negotiations over the past nine months, had famously declared on April 8 that “unfortunately [Palestinian] prisoners were not released [by Israel] on the Saturday they were supposed to be released. And so day one went by, day two went by, day three went by. And then in the afternoon, when they were about to maybe get there, 700 ... [colony] units were announced [by Israel] in [occupied] Jerusalem and, poof, that was sort of the moment. We find ourselves where we are”.
What the senior American officials, many of whom were American Jews who will remain on the team, as the State Department has just declared, shared unbelievable information, underlining Israel’s arrogance and its expansionist intentions in the Occupied Territories. Nevertheless, the Kerry plan “drew a border outline in the West Bank that gives Israel sovereignty over some 80 per cent of the ... [colonists] that live there today” numbering some 600,000. But the Israeli government gave “no response” to the American plan and “avoided drawing its own border outline” — a point the Palestinians wanted them to do.
The unidentified US officials explained: “We thought that we couldn’t achieve that because of the current makeup of the Israeli government, so we gave up. We didn’t realise [Benjamin] Netanyahu was using the announcements of tenders for ... [colony] construction, allowed ministers in his government to very effectively sabotage the success of the talks.” Thereafter, American officials dropped the crucial line: “There are a lot of reasons for the peace effort’s failure, but people in Israel shouldn’t ignore the bitter truth — the primary sabotage came from the ... [colonies]. The Palestinians don’t believe that Israel really intends to let them found a state when, at the same time, it is building ... [colonies] in the territory meant for that state. We’re talking about the announcement that 14,000 units, no less, [will be built]. Only now, after talks blew up, did we learn that this is also about expropriating land on a large scale. That does not reconcile with the agreement.”
Moreover, US officials reported that there were other Israeli demands: “Israel presented the security needs in the West Bank. It demanded complete control over the [Occupied] Territories. This told the Palestinians that nothing was going to change on the security front. Israel was not willing to agree to time frames — its control of the West Bank would continue forever.”
In turn, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to a demilitarised state, according to the officials, “to the border outline so that 80 per cent of the ... [colonists] would continue living in Israeli territory [and] for Israel to keep security sensitive areas [mostly in the Jordan Valley] for five years and then United States would take over”.
But Abbas reportedly told the American officials that he would not make any more concessions until Israel agreed to the following terms: “Outlining the borders would be the first topic under discussion, it would be agreed upon within three months [should talks resume as expected], a timeframe would be set for the evacuation of Israelis from sovereign Palestinian territory [Israel had agreed to complete the evacuation of Sinai within three years] and also agree to have East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.”
But the Israelis told the American officials, according to Ynetnews.com, they would not agree “to any of the three demands”.
This is how Israel is treating the US that has showered it with more than $235 billion (Dh864.33 billion) since its founding, compared to about half a billion dollars donated yearly to the Palestinians in recent times. Isn’t it time for the Obama administration to initiate some sanctions against the Netanyahu regime? Or is the pro-Israel lobby too powerful for such a daring step?
George S.Hishmeh is a Washington-based columnist. He can be contacted at ghishmeh@gulfnews.com