More talk about peace, no outcome expected

The Paris peace conference was convened this week to discuss the Israeli-Arab conflict.

A similar conference, with identical title, was held a century ago, but brought havoc to the Arab nation, following World War I.

This one is bound to yield no result, since Israel has already rejected categorically its concept and its scope for purely domestic reasons, related to the formation of the new Cabinet in which the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is, relatively, the only moderate politician in a group of ultraorthodox, extreme right members, including Avigdor Lieberman who had threatened to bomb the Egyptian Aswan Dam to force Cairo to toe the line.

He had earlier warned the Palestinians in Gaza that he would decimate the entire population to make room for more than one Olympic-size football playground, if missiles against adjacent villages are not stopped.

Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians were invited to this week’s Paris Peace Conference that hopes to set a framework and a paradigm for future meetings.

Now, 25 participants are expected to come up with an agenda that tackles the issues of Jerusalem, refugees, border and water.

The Americans who attended the Paris meetings this week were explicit that they brought no new proposals, but came to listen to any new ideas may be presented by the Middle East Quartet and the other nations participating in the meetings.

The US stopped playing an active role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in April 2014, when Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged the futility of his efforts to broker an end to the conflict based on the two-state solution.

During his mediation efforts, Kerry noted the accelerated increase in settlement activities in areas allocated to a future Palestinian state. He could not tolerate the aggressive, rigid, intolerant attitude of Netanyahu’s Cabinet regarding violations at Al Aqsa Mosque against Arabs.

It was clear for Kerry that his efforts as the representative of a great power were totally futile against the diktat of the ultra-right blocs in the Knesset and the Cabinet.

Within six months, a new session will be convened in Paris to formulate the general framework of the new French initiative.

By then, it will be nearly the end of 2016. A new map of geopolitical alternatives would have emerged with surprising tectonic shifts in the region.

The White House will be busy with the final touches of a new election year, and the ultra-sanctified, widely venerated icon of Israel and the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee will make sure that no power can exert pressure for the sake of the Palestinians or for the cause of justice or implementation of international law.