Word: settlements
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...Netanyahu insists that Israel is ready for unconditional talks; he blames the stalemate on the Palestinians for making the settlement freeze a precondition. But Netanyahu also refuses to accept that such talks be directed toward establishing a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital - and that's the minimum the Palestinians are prepared to accept. Abbas, meanwhile, feels betrayed that the Obama Administration has backed down from its own insistence that Israel halt construction in occupied territory. That, say the Palestinians, is clear evidence that Washington won't pressure Israel to do things...
...Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the dead of night on Monday, because right now Obama has little to show for his 10-month effort to revive a Middle East peace process. The Israeli leader's refusal to abide by Washington's demand for a complete freeze of settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem - and the Palestinians' refusal to enter talks without one - has left the Obama Administration's plans in tatters, with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas threatening to resign and pull the plug on the PA and the peace process of which...
...prime audience for Abbas' statement, of course, was not the PLO leadership but the Obama Administration. According to Palestinian sources who attended the meeting, Abbas told his PLO comrades that the U.S. had "cheated" him by retreating from its insistence that Israel end settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. "We welcomed it, and were optimistic when President Obama announced the need for a complete halt to settlements, including natural growth," Abbas said. "We were surprised by his support for the Israeli position." (The U.S. has backed Israel's argument that negotiations should resume despite the disagreement over...
Abbas had been under pressure from the U.S. to open unconditional talks with the Israelis, but mindful of his deteriorating popularity at home, the leadership of his Fatah party had ruled out negotiations until Israel demonstrated its bona fides by halting settlement activity. Livid over what he sees as Obama backsliding, Abbas is drawing on the only leverage available to him by threatening to walk away...
...Israelis and Administration officials suggest that the settlement-freeze issue shouldn't be allowed to get in the way of negotiations. However, in the eyes of the Palestinians, the Obama Administration's retreat on the issue signals that the U.S. is not going to pressure Israel for concessions it has been adamantly unwilling to make. Without such U.S. pressure on Israel, the Palestinian leadership believes there's nothing to be gained from talking to the hawkish Netanyahu government. From the perspective of Fatah, the almost two decades spent relying on U.S.-led diplomacy to deliver Palestinian national goals has delivered...