Negotiations Resume Israel, Palestinians Agree There Is A Long Way Left To Go
As they head back to the negotiating table after a six-month stalemate, Israel and the Palestinians agree on at least one thing: There’s a long way left to go.
The decision Monday to resume negotiations is only “a breakthrough in talks about the talks,” said Israeli government spokesman Moshe Fogel.
“It’s a positive step, but not the entire process,” said Marwan Kanafani, spokesman for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who announced the agreement after meeting with both sides in New York, called it “a medium step” toward peace in the region.
The agreement failed to address Palestinian demands for a halt to Israeli settlement construction on the West Bank, which they see as precluding their hopes of establishing a viable state.
Nor did it address Israel’s overdue withdrawals from rural areas of the West Bank, suspended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after two deadly suicide bombings in Jerusalem. Israel says it will consider handing over additional West Bank land only after the Palestinians make a serious effort to crush Islamic militant groups.
The Palestinians insist both the withdrawals and settlements must be part of the newly resumed talks.
“Mr. Netanyahu cannot choose the issues he wants,” Kanafani told The Associated Press.
“The further redeployment … is an essential issue. The issue of settlements must also be part of the talks, because there cannot be a continuation in the peace process if there is a continuation in settlement activity.”
Albright said her call for a “time-out” on settlement expansion would be taken up during the negotiations, which begin again Oct. 6.
Eight bilateral committees will resume work - stalled since March - on unresolved issues from the existing Israel-Palestinian peace agreements. They include the opening of a Palestinian airport and sea port, the release of Palestinian prisoners, water sharing, and - Israel’s top priority - security cooperation.
None of those issues are new. Before the Palestinians cut off contacts in March, the two sides labored over their fine points for more than a year with little to show for it. The Palestinians suspended the talks when Israel broke ground on a new Jewish neighborhood on disputed land in Jerusalem. Israel blocked the resumption of talks in July, after the first of the Jerusalem bombings.
The new negotiations are “part of the maintenance of the existing arrangements,” rather than a step toward resolving fundamental differences between the two sides, said Joel Singer, former legal adviser to Israel’s negotiating teams.
Singer said the gap will continue to widen until those questions - which include borders, the future of the settlements, and the status of Jerusalem - are addressed.