US, Israel, PA fail to reach agreement on settlement freeze - Jerusalem Post

 
Photo by: Associated Press By HERB KEINON 
12/07/2010 23:29 Talkbacks (2) The US-lead diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is going back to the drawing board, with a senior US official announcing Tuesday night that following consultation with the sides it was determined a further settlement moratorium would not provide the basis for a framework agreement.

The official, in a telephone briefing with reporters in Jerusalem, said that "in the days and weeks ahead" the US would engage with the sides, as well as with other countries in the region, about the "core substantive issues."

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The official said that Israeli and Palestinian officials would visit Washington in the coming days for discussions.  He would not say whether or not these would be direct talks. He was careful in not placing responsibility for the current stalemate on any one party

Israel is expected to be represented at the talks by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's envoy Yitzhak Molcho.

The surprise announcement came nearly a month after Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed in principle on 90-day settlement moratorium extension in exchange for a package of incentives from Washington.

Since that time the US has held intensive talks with both Israel and the PA about the precise details of the incentives and what would happen during the three months of negotiations during the freeze.  What emerged, according to diplomatic officials, was a gap between what Israel thought could be achieved during this time, and Palestinian expectations.

The Palestinians, according to Israeli sources, wanted the talks to focus on border issues, in the expectation that this issue would be solved within three months.

Israel, however, refused to commit to this timetable, arguing that it would not talk about borders without talking about security agreements, and that it would not agree to ceding land without knowing in advance what security arrangements would be put in place when it withdrew. Among security arrangements Israel is demanding are an Israeli presence on the eastern border of a future Palestinian state, and that the future state be demilitarized. 

According to Israeli sources, the US – after hearing the position of both sides -- came to the conclusion that even if there was a moratorium for the next 90 days, it would not ensure success of the process, and that the entire process could actually explode on the 91st day if an agreement on borders was not reached.

Interested in forestalling that scenario, the US has – according to Israeli sources -- decided to rethink the entire process, look at the process with "fresh eyes," and perhaps come up with a new path forward.

One Israeli official said that construction in the settlements,  re-started after the initial 10-month moratorium expired on September 26, will continue as it has since then. The official said the US position on a settlement moratorium is the same.

 The US has made clear that it would have liked to see a continuation of the settlement freeze that began in November 2009.

The Israeli official said that the breakdown of the talks over the moratorium would not impact on efforts to get the US to supply Israel with a second squadron of 20 F35 fighters.  Under the package of incentives that were reportedly being discussed with the US, Israel was to receive the planes in exchange for an additional settlement freeze.

An Israeli official said, however, that the second squadron was requested independent of the settlement moratorium as a vehicle by which Israel could retain its "qualitative military edge" following a massive $60 billion US arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

The US official said in the phone briefing Tuesday night that the US remained firmly committed to Israel's security and to its retention of a qualitative military edge.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a private meeting Tuesday that the US has a "central role in navigating the diplomatic process as a party accepted by both Israel and the Arabs." Barak said that in the coming days the discussion will continue between Israeli officials and Clinton "with the aim of leading to progress in talks with the Palestinians."function initServerVars() {_headup.clientHost = 'http://newstopics.jpost.com';_headup.termsFromServer = 'Ehud Barak$$Jerusalem';_headup.annotatedTerms = ['City/name/Jerusalem/displaytype/City/dbpediaSubject/Jerusalem/$$1', 'Person/name/Ehud Barak/displaytype/Prime Minister/dbpediaSubject/Ehud_Barak/$$1']_headup.widgetMode = 'snippet';_headup.snippetButtonStyle = 'banner';_headup.blackListedUrl = false;}  Subscribe to our Newsletter to receive news updates directly to your email         Author:   LBCountry:   Canada12/07/2010   23:39
Highly surprising. LOL. Was there ever any doubt?

1. Incentives or disincentives..Author:   jim lCountry:   USA12/07/2010   23:33
nothing can diminish the land value to Israelis. Their economy requires it. Their security requires it. Even if every Israeli got a windfall in cash from this deal and, the Arabs normalized relations with them, their growth and assets would necessitate expansion. The Arabs have no such situation. Their policies and behavior should raise red flags in every direction.

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Opposition Mounts to US Plan for Israeli Settlement Freeze - Voice of America

Robert Berger | Jerusalem 21 November 2010

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairing the weekly meeting of his Cabinet (file photo)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his Cabinet to try to shore up support for a 90-day moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank that is aimed at reviving Middle East peace talks.

Israel ended a 10-month moratorium in late September, prompting the Palestinians to suspend negotiations.

The United States has offered to sell Israel 20 advanced stealth fighter jets and to block anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations Security Council in exchange for the settlement freeze.

But Mr. Netanyahu is having trouble winning support from his right-wing coalition partners.

Cabinet Minister Eli Yishai said his ultra-Orthodox Shas party opposes the freeze. But he said the party might reconsider, if the U.S. guarantees that it will not demand any further restrictions on settlement construction when the 90-day period expires.

The dovish Labor Party, on the other hand, supports the freeze.

Labor Cabinet Minister Avishai Braverman urged the prime minister to move quickly to get the peace talks back on track.

Outside of the Cabinet meeting, some 2,000 Jewish settlers held a noisy protest against the moratorium.

"We will never allow the Land of Israel to be divided!" said settlement leader Dani Dayan.

Speaking in Cairo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also rejected the freeze because it only applies to the West Bank.

He said he would not return to peace talks, unless Israel also stops settlement construction in disputed East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state. Israel says Jerusalem is not a settlement, and it reserves the right to build anywhere in the city.

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Drilling freeze ended _ but when will work resume? - Philadelphia Inquirer

WASHINGTON - The U.S. is back in the deep water oil-drilling business. The question now is when work will resume.

The Obama administration, under heavy pressure from the oil industry and Gulf states and with elections nearing, lifted the moratorium that it imposed last April in the wake of the disastrous BP oil spill.

The ban had been scheduled to expire Nov. 30, but Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday he was moving up the date because new rules imposed after the spill had reduced the risk of another catastrophic blowout. Industry leaders warily waited for details of those rules, saying the moratorium wouldn't be truly lifted until then.

"The policy position that we are articulating today is that we are open for business," Salazar declared.

The reality is more complicated. While the temporary ban on exploratory oil and gas drilling is lifted immediately, drilling is unlikely to resume for several weeks at least as oil and gas companies struggle to meet a host of new safety regulations. For example, the CEO of a company responsible for a well would have to certify it had complied with all regulations. That could make the person at the top liable for any future accidents.

"Operators who play by the rules and clear the higher bar can be allowed to resume," Salazar said.

The April 20 BP spill, which was triggered by an explosion that killed 11 people, dumped an estimated 200 million gallons of oil in the Gulf, harming wildlife and severely cramping coastal businesses. BP sealed the well last month and expects to eventually pay at least $32 billion to handle the cleanup and damage claims.

News that the moratorium , much-despised along the Gulf Coast , was being lifted came as a federal judge weighed a drilling company's bid to overturn it.

The action also came just weeks before midterm elections in which Democrats face widespread criticism for overextending government actions on the economy, including the health care overhaul, the economic stimulus plan and the drilling moratorium. A federal report said the moratorium probably caused a temporary loss of 8,000 to 12,000 jobs in the Gulf region.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denied that pressure from the oil industry or anyone else played a role in the decision to lift the moratorium ahead of schedule. It was, he said, "part of a very deliberative policy process ... that got done more quickly than the original timeline."

Salazar said he knew that some drilling supporters would say the new rules are too onerous, while critics would say risks remain in deep water drilling. The truth is, there will always be such risks, Salazar said, but "as we transition to a clean energy economy, we will still need oil and gas from the Gulf of Mexico to power our homes, our cars, our industry."

Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La., called the end of the drilling ban great news for Louisiana's economy and workers, while Sen. David Vitter, R-La., contended there would be a "continuing de facto moratorium" on drilling that could extend for months or years. Melancon is challenging Vitter for his Senate seat next month.

Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Democrat, applauded the decision to lift the ban but said she would not release her hold on Jacob Lew, President Barack Obama's choice to head the Office of Management and Budget. Landrieu has blocked a Senate vote on Lew, in part, to protest the moratorium.

"Today's decision is a good start, but it must be accompanied by an action plan to get the entire industry in the Gulf of Mexico back to work," Landrieu said, calling on the administration to accelerate permit approvals for drilling in shallow and deep water and provide greater certainty about regulations industry must meet.

The White House expressed disappointment. Officials continue to believe her actions are "outrageous" and "unwarranted," Gibbs said.

Salazar emphasized that companies seeking to drill exploratory wells will have to prove they have the appropriate steps in place to contain a worst-case accident.

The new rules include many recommendations made in a report Salazar released in May, including requirements that rigs certify that they have working blowout preventers and standards for cementing wells. The cement process and blowout preventer both failed to work as expected in the BP accident.

Under the new rules, a professional engineer must independently inspect and certify each stage of the drilling process. Blowout preventers , the emergency cutoff equipment designed to contain a major spill , must be independently certified and capable of severing the drill pipe under severe pressure.

Todd Hornbeck, CEO of Covington, La.-based Hornbeck Offshore Services, said lifting the moratorium would leave the industry in a "de facto moratorium stage" until the government fully explains how new drilling permits will be issued.

"We're still in the dark," said Hornbeck, who heads up one of the companies that sued to block Interior's initial moratorium. His company provides vessels and other services for the offshore industry.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican and fierce opponent of the drilling ban, called the announcement good news, but added: "The devil is always in the details."

He said he will watch closely to see if new drilling permits are issued promptly.

Industry groups expressed similar skepticism. Both the American Petroleum Institute and the National Ocean Industries Association said they were concerned that a "de facto moratorium" would replace the one the administration lifted Tuesday.

Dan Favre, campaign organizer for the Gulf Restoration Network, a Louisiana-based environmental group, said the decision to lift the moratorium put the region at risk.

"The Gulf and our communities have a long road to recovery from the BP disaster," he said. Local fishermen are still out of work, effects on wildlife have not been fully assessed and long-term work is needed to ensure ecological and economic recovery, he added. "We certainly can't afford another oil catastrophe."

Ensco Offshore, which owns and operates offshore drilling rigs, asked a federal judge last month to overturn the moratorium. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman set a Tuesday deadline for legal briefs in the case, but has not said when he would rule.

,,

Associated Press writers Dina Cappiello, Julie Pace and Darlene Superville in Washington, and Michael Kunzelman and Kevin McGill in New Orleans contributed to this story.

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Israeli Freeze Terms Rejected by Palestinians; Talks in Limbo - BusinessWeek

October 11, 2010, 7:01 PM EDT By Calev Ben-David

Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set terms for the renewal of a West Bank settlement freeze that were swiftly rejected by the Palestinians, leaving the status of U.S.-brokered peace talks in limbo.

Netanyahu told parliament yesterday he was ready to convene his Cabinet and ask for an extension of a freeze on settlement building if “the Palestinian leadership tells its people in an unequivocal manner that it recognizes Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.”

Mohammad Shtayyeh, a member of the Palestinian Authority negotiating team, said Netanyahu’s demand was “unacceptable.”

The comments come as the U.S. is trying to keep peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians alive after Israel’s 10-month freeze on construction in the West Bank expired on Sept. 26. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said he will only return to talks if Israel reimposes the construction moratorium.

“There is no way that the Palestinian Authority is going to make this declaration,” said Jonathan Spyer, a political scientist at Israel’s Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, near Tel Aviv. “The government of Israel is trying to educate the U.S. administration on why there is no basis for a productive peace process at this point.”

The Palestinians reject Israel’s demand that they recognize it as the state of the Jewish people on the grounds it undermines the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Israel says recognition of it as a Jewish state is necessary to ensure the Palestinians don’t make additional claims once a peace treaty has been signed.

‘Work Constructively’

“The parties must work constructively to create conditions for the negotiations to continue,” U.S. State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said in an e-mail. “Both sides need to take steps if we are going to move forward.”

The Arab League last week backed the Palestinian Authority’s position not to resume direct peace talks until Israel renews the freeze, and gave U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration more time to revive the peace effort.

Israel had signaled last week that a compromise may be in the works. “The U.S. has come back to Israel with a number of suggestions, incentives if you would, that enable the government to maybe pass a limited extension of two or three months,” Ambassador Michael Oren told the Washington Post.

Shtayyeh said Netanyahu was “adding additional complications” to the renewal of talks. “We hope that the international community will bring Israel into the talks without any conditionality,” he said.

West Bank

About 500,000 Jews have moved to the West Bank and east Jerusalem since Israel captured the territory in 1967.

The United Nations says that settlements are illegal, and the International Committee of the Red Cross says they breach the Fourth Geneva Convention governing actions on occupied territory. Obama has said the settlements aren’t legitimate.

Israel says the settlements don’t fall under the convention because the territory wasn’t recognized as belonging to anyone before the 1967 war, in which Israel prevailed, and therefore isn’t occupied.

Netanyahu, who spoke at the opening of the winter parliamentary session, told lawmakers that security arrangements for Israel were vital in ensuring that “the peace was maintained.” He said they would also safeguard the country “in the regrettable but possible event that the peace was violated.”

Israel and the Palestinians agreed last month to try and reach an agreement on the framework for a comprehensive peace accord within a year. All the issues at the core of the conflict would be on the table, including the borders of a future Palestinian state, security arrangements for Israel, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, and the status of Jerusalem.

Spyer said he expected more bargaining in the month before the Arab League meets again to discuss the peace process. “There will be a series of proposals and counterproposals,” he said.

--With assistance from Alisa Odenheimer in Jerusalem. Editors: Peter Hirschberg, Louis Meixler.

To contact the reporter on this story: Calev Ben-David in Jerusalem at cbendavid@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg in Jerusalem at

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PA decides to halt talks unless building freeze reinstated - Jerusalem Post

Jerusalem took in stride on Saturday night a Palestinian Authority statement that talks would be halted if Israel didn’t stop settlement construction, saying this was not necessarily the PA’s final word and that discussions with the US were continuing to find a “creative solution” to the stalemate.

Following a meeting of the PA leadership that issued a statement saying there could be no peace talks unless Israel halted settlement construction, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued a statement of his own calling on PA President Mahmoud Abbas and the PA leadership to continue the talks in order to reach a “historic agreement” within a year.

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“The way to reach a historic peace agreement between our two peoples is to sit around the negotiating table continuously and with seriousness, and not to leave it, because that is the place to solve our differences,” the prime minister said.

“The Palestinians conducted direct talks with Israeli governments for the last 17 years amid building in Judea and Samaria, including during the last year of the preceding government.

I hope that also now they won’t turn their backs on peace, and will continue in the talks to reach a framework agreement within a year,” he said.

On Friday, amid reports that Netanyahu’s proposal for overcoming the current hurdle was to reach an agreement whereby Israel would build 1,200 housing units in Judea and Samaria in the next year, the prime minister said in a private meeting that “everyone knows that “moderate and restrained building” over the next year would not “impact at all on the peace map.”

The 1,200 figure would be in pace with what was being built during the 10-month moratorium, and less than the rate of construction under the Olmert government.

Netanyahu, in this meeting and in an apparent reference to the initial settlement moratorium imposed 10 months ago, said that while Israel had taken steps to enable Abbas to enter the direct talks, the Palestinians have only “hardened their positions.”

The international community needed to call on the PA to remain in the talks. “This is in the Palestinian interest, just as it is in ours,” Netanyahu said.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who has been intimately involved in trying to broker a compromise solution, also called on the PA on Saturday night not to bolt the talks.

“We all must show good judgment and determination in order to overcome the difficulties and continue the negotiations to achieve results,” he said in a statement.

Barak said he believed that intensive discussions between Israel, the US, the Palestinians and leaders in the Arab world could lead to a formula this week that would ensure a continuation of the direct negotiations.

The PA statement, issued on Saturday by the Palestinian leadership following a meeting to discuss the latest developments surrounding the US-sponsored direct talks, said Israel’s “insistence on combining settlement expansion with the negotiations is a clear indication that it is not serious in dealing with the peace efforts.

“This also shows that Israel is seeking to use the negotiations as a cover for pursuing the same settlement policy and changing the reality on the ground and determining its fate through occupation and aggression.”

The statement said that “in light of this, the Palestinian leadership holds the Israeli government responsible for the suspension of the negotiations and the peace process by foiling the efforts of the US administration and the international community in that regard.”

The statement stressed that the resumption of the talks required tangible steps, first and foremost the “unconditional and unrestricted” cessation of settlement construction.

Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for Abbas, said the PA leadership made it clear that there would be no negotiations with Israel as long as the construction in the settlements continued.

He said that Abbas relayed the Palestinian leadership’s position to US special Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who met with Abbas twice over the past few days.

“The Americans asked to continue contacts with the Palestinians and we have no problem with that,” Abu Rudaineh said, referring to the Abbas-Mitchell discussions. “But if Israel is serious it must stop the settlements and take measures to convince the Palestinians and Arabs that it’s serious about a serious and just peace process.”

Abu Rudaineh said that US efforts to resume the direct talks faltered because of Israel’s decision to resume construction in the settlements. Mitchell went on Saturday to Qatar and Egypt, and was scheduled to go to Amman on Sunday.

An Arab League forum is expected to meet in Libya next Friday to discuss whether the PA should continue direct talks even though the moratorium was not extended.

In Damascus on Friday, Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal said Israel’s insistence on being recognized as a Jewish state was a conspiracy against Palestinian refugees. Mashaal was speaking at a mass wedding organized by Hamas for more than 700 couples. Family is the central element of Palestinian society and the “occupation [Israel] fears the coming generation. They fear our people in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank as well as Palestinian territories occupied in 1948.

“They are preparing their plans after they failed to break these people who do not surrender and who pass on the mantle from one generation to another,” Mashaal said.

The belief in diplomacy as the only way the Palestinians will achieve a state of their own is “one of the biggest mistakes,” he said.

He claimed that the Palestinian leadership was “drowning in politics.”

Politics must be put aside, he said, since “resistance and jihad come from society,” he said.

On Friday, Netanyahu met with both Mitchell and EU foreign policy Chief Catherine Ashton.

Netanyahu is expected to convene his senior ministers, the forum known as the “septet,” on Sunday or Monday to discuss the recent developments, including a draft letter reportedly given by President Barack Obama spelling out US promises if Israel extended the moratorium by two months.

Due to Succot, neither the septet, the 15-member security cabinet, nor the full cabinet of 30 ministers has met in recent days to discuss that letter or the various efforts to overcome the current impasse.

Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.

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