Palestinian Negotiator Frustrated Post-Trilat
EmailFrom ABC News' Kirit Radia:
Smooth talking Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat was visibly frustrated following a trilateral meeting today between Israeli and Palestinian leaders and hosted by President Obama. Erekat told reporters the Israelis had refused to accept a freeze on Jewish settlement construction, including so-called natural growth, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Such a freeze, called for by the Obama administration, has been a requirement for Arab cooperation in the peace process. "Senator Mitchell could not have the Israelis comply with their obligations, ie stopping settlement activities including natural growth. He could not get the Israeli government's acceptance to resume the permanent status negotiations on all core issues including Jerusalem. So we thought that the invitation of President Obama was a personal invitation that reflected the commitment to achieve the two state solution," he said.
He called on Israel to comply with obligations under the Road Map agreement that calls, among other things, for a freeze on settlement activity. "It's time and high time for the Israeli government to realize that obligations are the essence of international law, international relations, interactions between nations. Responsible governments carry out their obligations," he said. Erekat suggested Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was more interested in keeping together his governing coalition, elements of which oppose the two-state solution Netanyahu himself only reluctantly endorsed recently, than negotiating for peace with the Palestinians. "If the Israeli government believes that they want to make peace to maintain their coalition by saying Jerusalem is not going to be negotiated, refugees is not going to be negotiated, settlements will continue then they can make peace between themselves," he said. Erekat praised President Obama's initiative in hosting the meeting as a sign of his personal commitment to peace, but said even the American president did not sufficiently empathize with the Palestinian situation. "Nobody at the trilateral meeting, including President Obama, woke up and felt their conscience aching for the Palestinian suffering. We did not wake up as a Palestinian and felt our conscience aching for Israeli suffering," he said. Erekat also voiced some concern about the Obama administration's ability to push Israel to act, both on settlements and even more contentious disagreements down the road. "If the Americans cannot have the Israelis comply with stopping settlement activities who shall believe that one day they will be able to get the Israelis to withdraw to the '69 (sic) borders and solve issues like refugees and borders," he said. — Kirit Radia
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I would like to see the Israelis freeze settlement growth unilaterally. But they left Lebanon unilaterally, they left Gaza unilaterally, they agreed to a 2 state deal with Arafat in 2000 and what did they get? Bupkis. Actually, terrrorism and rocket attacks. The Palestinians now have to deal with Netanyahu because they flipped the bird to Barak in 2000.
Posted by: hopesprings52 | September 22, 2009, 4:23 pm 4:23 pm
“Erekat also voiced some concern about the Obama administration’s ability to push Israel to act, both on settlements and even more contentious disagreements down the road.”
Imagine that. You’d almost think that the Israelis are losing faith in the Obama administration or something.
Posted by: Bridget | September 22, 2009, 4:27 pm 4:27 pm
I’m sure the Palestinians are really irritated they can’t blow up pizza places as easily as they used to.
Posted by: C4 | September 22, 2009, 4:34 pm 4:34 pm
Hmmm…. I think you forgot to mention how the Saudi’s play an important role in this dance around the Mulberry Bush.
Just saying… :)
Posted by: SjB | September 22, 2009, 4:37 pm 4:37 pm
Israel doesn’t want peace. They want to expand their holdings. The settlement and checkpoint expansions over the decades point this out very clearly. This much should be obvious by now. I am really tires of American tax dollars going to this pariah state. Cut them loose and let them fend for themselves. I am really sick of supporting their cruelty.
Posted by: Huh | September 22, 2009, 4:42 pm 4:42 pm
If you had any idea of the depth of inhumanity and humiliation and degradation that Palestinians experience on a daily, hourly basis at the hands of the Israelis, be it from hours and hours of checkpoints and interrogations just to buy milk, families being separated just because the guards can do that, people being shot, defecation inside drawers by Israeli soldiers in Gazan homes, you would think otherwise. The Palestinians are treated like animals, worse than animals, by very many Israelis who are now the conscienceless oppressors even as they were once victims.
The thing is that I want Israel to be a Jewish state. I think Jews deserve one nation for themselves, and I have read the poems of Schmuel Ha Naguid and Hasdai ben Shaprut and other eminent Jewish poets throughout history in their longing and love for Zion, their beloved homeland.
Yet my goodwill and desire for fulfillment for the Jewish people, for the Israeli people, is threatened and strained with each passing day of present Israeli barbarism. There is never any consideration of the daily brutality and humiliation that Palestinians face, the dingy conditions of their lives, the hopelessness that prevails. It is from this unfertile ground of despair that the victim mentality votes and acts. There needs to be change for the good of the world.
Posted by: l | September 22, 2009, 4:42 pm 4:42 pm
Erekat should look at his own side about keeping international obligations. Small ones like not shooting dozens of rockets on a daily basis into Israel, like not blowing up buses and night clubs, markets and school cafeterias. Once the Palestinians start acting like a nation, then the rest of the world will start treating them like a nation.
Posted by: j0112 | September 22, 2009, 4:59 pm 4:59 pm
Israel doesn’t want peace. They want to expand their holdings. The settlement and checkpoint expansions over the decades point this out very clearly. This much should be obvious by now. I am really tires of American tax dollars going to this pariah state. Cut them loose and let them fend for themselves. I am really sick of supporting their cruelty.
Posted by: Huh | Sep 22, 2009 4:42:24 PM
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agreed.
Posted by: gus amaral | September 22, 2009, 5:11 pm 5:11 pm
The Two-State solution is a possibility, but it appears the obstacle in the way is where the Palestinians want to create the Palestinian State. For years the argument has been over the West Bank. Why not find a better place that’s less contentious for both religious and security reasons to Israel? Surely, the vast Arab empire can find a plot of land for their brethren. The Jews who settled Israel came from all over the globe to make their homeland. Palestinians, if given land in an Arab state, wouldn’t have very far to go…this, of course, assuming that the Palestinians really are arguing over the West Bank and not something else.
Halli Casser-Jayne http://www.thecjpoliticalreport.com
Posted by: Halli Casser-Jayne | September 22, 2009, 5:51 pm 5:51 pm
” For years the argument has been over the West Bank. Why not find a better place that’s less contentious for both religious and security reasons to Israel?”
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Israel has no legal claim on the West Bank – they are building on other people’s lands. Time for them to clear off.
Posted by: tierra | September 22, 2009, 8:24 pm 8:24 pm