Obama can succeed in a Mideast peace deal

-DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL 

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The Palestinian–Israeli peace process is expected to enter a critical phase this week. US president Obama is trying to persuade both leaders to sign a framework agreement which is being formulated by US Secretary of State John Kerry in a bid to launch talks for a final settlement, using the framework agreement as a reference for contested issues. Obama meets Hawkish and fanatic Israeli PM B Netanyahu on 03 March and is scheduled to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on March 17.

Washington wants to announce the deal before the end of March, when Israel is due to release another group of Palestinian prisoners. However, in a hint that Israel will not be as conciliatory as the President might like, before boarding the plane Netanyahu said that Israel has withstood pressures in the past and will continue to do so.  ‘

Like other Zionist leaders, Netanyahu continues to insist on Palestinian recognition of the Jewish identity of the state of Israel, and the presence of Israeli troops in the Jordan Valley, as well as rejecting the division of Jerusalem. Netanyahu also wants to adjust West Bank borders to integrate large Israeli settlements into Israeli territory, and rejects the return of refugees.

The agreement is expected to include a clause on a capital of a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem. The issues of borders, refugees, settlements and water resources are expected to be included in appendices to the agreement which will be discussed by joint committees. The issue of the Jewish identity of Israel, which Netanyahu’s government insists must be recognized, is categorically rejected by the Palestinians

US Jewish AIPAC lobbyists, who try to control American domestic and foreign polices to suits Zionist agenda, claim that Obama will ask Netanyahu and Abbas about their future plans in case of the failure of the negotiations, and will give them the option to cooperate with the American plan, or face isolation and live with the difficult reality which awaits them if the US abandoned the peace process.

It appears that Obama’s efforts will be focused on Jerusalem and a declaration of the Jewish identity of Israel, in order to find a compromise. Sources indicate that the way to resolve the crisis would be to announce that Jerusalem was the capital of both states, with an indication to Israel’s right to acquire international recognition as a Jewish state, which would implicitly also mean the recognition of the state of Palestine.

Palestinians insist on the sharing Jerusalem and refuse to recognize Israel as a Jewish state—which they see as precluding any return of Palestinian refugees to what is now Israeli territory—and also insist on the removal of all Israeli forces from the Jordan Valley.

The USA is pressuring Israel to stop killing Iranian nuclear scientists to enable diplomacy to stop Iran’s nuclear program to succeed. While Israel has never taken responsibility for the killings of at least four scientists in Iran’s nuclear program, it is widely believed to be the work of the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence services.

Meanwhile, Cairo reportedly received information from the Palestinian side that the “differences were still deep and have yet to be bridged.” Palestinian Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat and Palestinian intelligence chief,  Majed Faraj, will travel to Washington in the next few days to meet American officials in preparation for the Abbas visit. Erekat and Faraj are expected to meet Secretary of State Kerry and Middle East Envoy Martin Indyk.  Erekat would meet Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby soon to inform him about details of the Palestinian–Israeli negotiations in light of the recent meeting between Abbas and Kerry in Paris.

Palestine is already a defacto member of UN, voted by the majority of UN member states and Israel could not stop it as Israel-US duo could not get support from many of its traditional allies, including the UK.

This time Obama will intervene strongly and directly and will pressure Netanyahu and Abbas to accept the framework agreement. If, however, Obama fails to pressure Israel to seriously consider the establishment of Palestine by agreeing to all genuine concerns of people of Palestine, the Palestinian leadership has a “Plan B” in place for Palestine to seek membership of international organizations and institutions. This plan is rejected by Israel and the US, and Israel may respond by a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank, which may cause the Palestinians a political, security and financial crisis.

Israel claims to be a modern democracy, like USA and UK, but also insists making a purely Jewish state of Israel and wants besieged Palestinians to recognize it along with its fascist outlook and operations in Mideast. Israel  has already over used the issue of  Iran’s nuclear program and now it stop that nonsense to prolong the occupation.  

Ideally, Palestinians could be easily encouraged to recognize Israel only when they also get an independent nation of their own.  Coercing them now without a recognized home is impertinently ridiculous on Israel’s part. How can people, treated like slaves by Israel, recognize Israeli fascism?

Also, Israel already has got its capital Tel Aviv, a developed modern city in Mideast with full of nuclear connections. One fails to understand why does it require another capital and why not let Palestinians make Jerusalem their capital?

Israel should not impose its fascist will on Palestinians and world at large just because it now brutally occupies Palestine.

Instead of fueling the Mideast crisis any further, Israel should strive for resolution of it quite honestly.

State fanaticism is as dangerous as state terrorism!