Nothing new, unfortunately

The Paris meeting, thought to breathe some life into the moribund Palestinian-Israeli talks, ended with a communiqué that contained nothing new or encouraging.

Not that much was expected, but somewhere, waiting to timidly sprout, was a seed of hope that maybe the Western powers would at least put again on track the dragging process of negotiating the ever-elusive peace for the Palestinians.

The participants merely reaffirmed their support for a just, lasting and comprehensive resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and acknowledged that a negotiated two-state solution is the only way to achieve an enduring peace and ensure that the two sides live side by side in security.

Nothing new here, to be sure, as there is nothing new in the participants’ “alarm” that “actions on the ground, in particular continued acts of violence and ongoing settlement activity, are dangerously imperilling the prospects for a two-state solution”.

It has become common to place the blame on Palestinians first, on their “acts of violence” — conveniently forgetting that their acts, violent or peaceful, are due to, are the result of, the occupation, not wanton deeds by an evil nation against an innocent neighbour — and then, as an afterthought, to mention settlements — again conveniently ignoring the fact that their cancerous spread is eating up land that rightfully belongs to the Palestinians and undermining any discussion between the two sides.

The Paris meeting did not even put a deadline, nor did it come up with new guidelines or parameters for possible peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis.

It did not go beyond the customary mention of UN resolutions, Arab Peace Initiative, Quartet’s role…

Same old.

As Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Maliki said, the meeting did not contain any groundbreaking stances or binding ideas.

In other words, the Paris meeting was another failed effort to put talks on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on new footing.

Being shy or overly protective of the Israeli “sensitivities”, as the US seems to constantly be, does not help.

The international community should resort to the UN to settle the matter in no uncertain terms.

Waiting for Israel to accept to talk peace is a waste of time, as is waiting for the next US president and hoping that he/she will have more courage to tackle the issue.

Driving the Palestinians to more frustration and waiting for a miracle to happen is courting trouble, and the region has already too much of it.

It is long overdue time to grant freedom to a people that has lived under a cruel occupation for decades.