New hope for peace talks

Given the collision course in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiating process, it comes as positive news that indirect talks between the two sides, under mediation by the United States, could be carried out very soon.

Having said that, US Middle East envoy George Mitchell has a tough task ahead of him. So far, he has failed to gain the trust of both sides, and on the Palestinian front he couldn't even accommodate any of their legitimate requests. As a result, Palestinians are dropping for now their request for Israel to freeze all its colony activity as a precondition to indirect talks. This is a difficult call to make and Mitchell needs to be clear with the Israelis that there cannot be any further concessions demanded from the Palestinians. First and foremost, Mitchell has to break the colony construction cycle; Israel cannot be left to carry on with its construction and expansion plans on Palestinian land knowing that the international community has asked it not to and despite international law.

The seasoned diplomat also needs to focus on getting the Israelis to end their indiscriminate attacks and incursions into the Palestinian territory. The latest took place at the Shufata refugee camp in Occupied East Jerusalem whereby Israel arrested 11 people.

A time frame must be put in place to avoid further disappointment.