US credibility lies in tatters

Unfulfilled promises on colonies frustrate Arabs

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2 MIN READ

Washington: Soon after the US announced last week that it would abandon an 18-month demand for an Israeli colony freeze to advance peace talks with the Palestinians, state department spokesperson P.J. Crowley insisted that the US would not start over with a blank slate.

But after US envoy George Mitchell wrapped up a regional trip with little to show for it, the Obama administration's engagement with the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations appears rudderless. Palestinians say trust in the US mediation is running out.

"Up until now the Americans haven't fulfilled anything that they promised to the Palestinian leadership: George Bush promised at Annapolis that within two years there would be a Palestinian state. President Obama talked about freezing colonies, and now he is giving up," says Hana Sinora, the codirector of the Israel Palestinian Centre for Research and Information. "[Palestinians] don't believe that the US will be able to squeeze anything out of [the] present government."

No ground rules

The US wants to hold indirect talks on the final status of issues like occupied Jerusalem, borders, and refugees, but last week the Palestinians and the Arab League rejected indirect talks unless there's a commitment upfront to a territorial compromise based on the 1967 borders.

"Going back to indirect talks without any terms of reference gets you back to the same square. So what's the point? So we will go nowhere," says one Palestinian negotiator. "What is new in the pocket of Washington? We have very few answers."

At a Cairo meeting on Wednesday night of the Arab League's committee to monitor the peace process, leaders who are usually guarded when it comes to discussing US handling of the talks were uncharacteristically blunt.

Qatari Prime Minister Shaikh Hamad Bin Jasem Al Thani said he "did not expect anything" from the United States. Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa said the body won't back new negotiations "until a serious proposal is made for an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict".

The Arab frustration is a function of the dashed expectations following President Barack Obama's declaration early last year of opposition to colony expansion.

Israel, wary of being blamed for the failed talks, has dropped its opposition to discussing the core issues of a peace treaty through a US third party. But an Israeli official acknowledged that it is still unclear whether the format for those discussions will follow Israeli demands to discuss security issues first or to tackle other issues simultaneously.

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