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Israelis, Palestinians finally agree — on futility of talks

By AFP - Oct 01,2014 - Last updated at Oct 01,2014

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Months after the collapse of US-led efforts to advance Middle East peace, experts say Palestinians and Israelis have finally agreed on at least one thing — further talks would be futile.

And, as has so often been the case in the intractable conflict, neither side looks set to propose any kind of meaningful alternative.

Over the past week, speeches by the two leaders at the UN General Assembly have laid bare how far apart the two sides remain, six months after Washington's latest peace push fell apart.

President Mahmoud Abbas fired the first volley, telling UN delegates on Friday it was impossible to return to "the cycle of negotiations that failed to deal with the substance of the matter and the fundamental question" of Palestinian statehood.

In strong language reserved normally for an Arab audience, Abbas accused Israel of waging a "war of genocide" during the recent conflict in Gaza, which killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 73 on the Israeli side.

Experts said the 79-year-old Abbas, who has led the Western-backed Palestinian Authority for nearly a decade, made clear he has no more patience for Washington's longstanding peace efforts.

"The most important point from the speech is that the Palestinians are now rejecting American supervision of the negotiations, which for years have led to nothing," said Wasel Abu Yussef, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, famed for his bombastic speeches at the Assembly, also left no doubt during his address on Monday that he saw no future in pursuing talks in their current format.

Accusing Abbas of spreading "brazen lies", Netanyahu said it was time to move on from the framework of direct peace talks — as laid out nearly 20 years ago in the Oslo Accords.

"The old template for peace must be updated," he said.

That template — meant to deal with so-called "final status" issues like the return of Palestinian refugees, the border of a Palestinian state and the fate of Jerusalem — was revived during the nine months of US-backed negotiations that collapsed in April.

 

No more illusions 

 

Following intensive diplomatic efforts by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agreed to sit down in July 2013 for their first direct talks in three years.

But as the months wore on with little progress, Washington tempered its expectations, first giving up on hopes of a comprehensive peace deal to focus on a framework agreement, then simply trying to keep the two sides talking.

Although the talks eventually collapsed following a dispute over Israel’s failure to free Palestinian prisoners and Israeli fury over a unity deal between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fateh, the main stumbling block was the ongoing construction of Jewish settlements.

A few months later, a bloody seven-week war between Israel and Hamas fighters in Gaza put paid to any remaining illusions about a resumption of talks.

The Palestinians are now focusing on other diplomatic avenues to achieve their promised state, including moves to secure a UN Security Council resolution setting a timeframe for ending the occupation.

They are also mulling a war crimes case against Israel at the International Criminal Court, though they have not yet joined the body despite being able to do so since winning the rank of UN observer state in 2012.

Abbas is even said to be considering breaking off crucial political, economic and security agreements with Israel, including his forces’ coordination with the Israeli army in the West Bank — a source of much Palestinian criticism.

 

‘Palestinian hands tied’

 

But analysts say alternative strategies can only work if Abbas has the will to follow through — and so far there is no sign of that.

“Abbas’s threats have always been empty because the Palestinian Authority has its hands tied by agreements signed with Israel, is politically dependent on the United States and is economically dependent on Europe and international organisations,” said Karim Bitar, a Middle East expert based in Paris.

Abbas is meanwhile struggling with his own falling popularity, with a recent post-war poll showing he would come second to Hamas’ former Gaza premier Ismail Haniyeh if presidential elections were held now.

The same poll also found only 29 per cent of Palestinians believed talks were the best way to obtain a Palestinian state, with 44 percent saying they believed armed struggle was more effective.

On the Israeli side, the suggestions of a new way forward are even more vague.

In his speech, Netanyahu suggested the combined threats posed by Iran’s nuclear programme and the Islamic State jihadist group would create “new opportunities” for Israel to work with “Arab partners”.

But he offered no details and Israel’s left-leaning Haaretz newspaper said any talk of a new partnership with the Arab world was “imaginary”.

Still, some analysts say Abbas may not have given up entirely on the peace process.

Salman Shaikh of the Brookings Doha Centre said the “hyperbolic and exaggerated” language of Abbas’s speech was mainly meant to “express the frustration” felt by many Palestinians.

“Does it close the door to peace? No,” Shaikh said. “Abbas tried to put pressure on the US and the international community.”

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