Two decades after Israelis and Palestinians signed their historic first accord and three years after negotiations last broke down, the sides will sit down again in Washington today to try to clinch an elusive peace.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cleared the way to the resumption of talks yesterday when he won cabinet backing to release 104 Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli and Palestinian officials are scheduled to hold initial discussions this evening and tomorrow in Washington, according to a statement yesterday from Jen Psaki, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman. The terms of negotiations were hammered out by by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in months of intense shuttle diplomacy and have not been disclosed. Netanyahu said the new peace effort is to last nine months.
“We are entering into new negotiations that are very complex, very complicated, in a region that is very, very difficult,” Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who will lead her country’s negotiating team, said in comments broadcast today on Army Radio. “The situation in the region is changing, there are many threats, we are getting under way cautiously -- but also with hope.”
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat welcomed Israel’s agreement to release prisoners while saying thousands more prisoners remain in Israeli jails and must be freed.
[h=2]Seize Opportunity[/h]“We call upon Israel to seize the opportunity” created by Kerry “in order to put an end to decades of occupation and exile, and to start a new stage of justice, freedom and peace for Israel, Palestine and the rest of the region,” Erekat said.
Negotiations are resuming almost 20 years after Israeli and Palestinian leaders signed the Oslo peace accords in a White House ceremony, buoying Palestinians’ hopes of winning an independent state on land Israel captured in 1967. Instead, talks have proceeded in fits and starts, and thousands of people have been killed in periodic waves of violence. The plan to give Palestinians partial sovereignty for five years has lasted for two decades.
In the meantime, the Palestinians have ruptured into dueling entities, one governed by the West Bank-based Abbas, the other by Islamist Hamas militants in Gaza who do not recognize Israel’s right to exist. Israel and the U.S. shun Hamas as a terrorist organization and it will not take part in the talks, which it has denounced.
[h=2]Peacemaking a Priority[/h]Kerry has made Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking a priority, making six trips to the region over six months. He spent four days this month prodding Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resume talks. He called Abbas over the weekend to emphasize President Barack Obama’s support for a prompt return to negotiations, the Palestinian Wafa news agency said.
Kerry commended Netanyahu and Abbas, according to the State Department’s statement, saying, “Both leaders have demonstrated a willingness to make difficult decisions that have been instrumental in getting to this point.”
Netanyahu swept away the last hurdle yesterday when he overcame opposition within his cabinet to the release of jailed Palestinians.
“This moment isn’t easy for me, it’s not easy for the cabinet and it is especially not easy for the grieving families,” Netanyahu said in a text message after the vote. “But there are times when one must make difficult decisions for the good of the country and this is one of those moments.”
[h=2]Challenges and Opportunities[/h]In a rare open message to Israeli citizens before the vote, Netanyahu said upheaval in Egypt, Syria and Iran confront Israel with both challenges and “considerable opportunities.”
The talks are “important both in order to exhaust the chance of ending the conflict with the Palestinians and in order to establish Israel’s position in the complex international reality around us,” he said.
Peace talks broke down in September 2010, when Netanyahu declined to extend a partial settlement construction freeze in the West Bank. Abbas refused to negotiate unless all building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem was halted, saying such construction was designed to entrench Israel’s presence there and a sign of bad faith. Netanyahu said talks shouldn’t be subject to conditions.
To contact the reporters on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at [email protected]; Calev Ben-David in Jerusalem at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at [email protected]
Enlarge image
[h=3]Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu[/h]
Ronen Zvulun/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on July 28, 2013.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on July 28, 2013. Photographer: Ronen Zvulun/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cleared the way to the resumption of talks yesterday when he won cabinet backing to release 104 Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli and Palestinian officials are scheduled to hold initial discussions this evening and tomorrow in Washington, according to a statement yesterday from Jen Psaki, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman. The terms of negotiations were hammered out by by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in months of intense shuttle diplomacy and have not been disclosed. Netanyahu said the new peace effort is to last nine months.
“We are entering into new negotiations that are very complex, very complicated, in a region that is very, very difficult,” Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who will lead her country’s negotiating team, said in comments broadcast today on Army Radio. “The situation in the region is changing, there are many threats, we are getting under way cautiously -- but also with hope.”
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat welcomed Israel’s agreement to release prisoners while saying thousands more prisoners remain in Israeli jails and must be freed.
[h=2]Seize Opportunity[/h]“We call upon Israel to seize the opportunity” created by Kerry “in order to put an end to decades of occupation and exile, and to start a new stage of justice, freedom and peace for Israel, Palestine and the rest of the region,” Erekat said.
Negotiations are resuming almost 20 years after Israeli and Palestinian leaders signed the Oslo peace accords in a White House ceremony, buoying Palestinians’ hopes of winning an independent state on land Israel captured in 1967. Instead, talks have proceeded in fits and starts, and thousands of people have been killed in periodic waves of violence. The plan to give Palestinians partial sovereignty for five years has lasted for two decades.
In the meantime, the Palestinians have ruptured into dueling entities, one governed by the West Bank-based Abbas, the other by Islamist Hamas militants in Gaza who do not recognize Israel’s right to exist. Israel and the U.S. shun Hamas as a terrorist organization and it will not take part in the talks, which it has denounced.
[h=2]Peacemaking a Priority[/h]Kerry has made Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking a priority, making six trips to the region over six months. He spent four days this month prodding Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resume talks. He called Abbas over the weekend to emphasize President Barack Obama’s support for a prompt return to negotiations, the Palestinian Wafa news agency said.
Kerry commended Netanyahu and Abbas, according to the State Department’s statement, saying, “Both leaders have demonstrated a willingness to make difficult decisions that have been instrumental in getting to this point.”
Netanyahu swept away the last hurdle yesterday when he overcame opposition within his cabinet to the release of jailed Palestinians.
“This moment isn’t easy for me, it’s not easy for the cabinet and it is especially not easy for the grieving families,” Netanyahu said in a text message after the vote. “But there are times when one must make difficult decisions for the good of the country and this is one of those moments.”
[h=2]Challenges and Opportunities[/h]In a rare open message to Israeli citizens before the vote, Netanyahu said upheaval in Egypt, Syria and Iran confront Israel with both challenges and “considerable opportunities.”
The talks are “important both in order to exhaust the chance of ending the conflict with the Palestinians and in order to establish Israel’s position in the complex international reality around us,” he said.
Peace talks broke down in September 2010, when Netanyahu declined to extend a partial settlement construction freeze in the West Bank. Abbas refused to negotiate unless all building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem was halted, saying such construction was designed to entrench Israel’s presence there and a sign of bad faith. Netanyahu said talks shouldn’t be subject to conditions.
To contact the reporters on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at [email protected]; Calev Ben-David in Jerusalem at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at [email protected]
Enlarge image
[h=3]Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu[/h]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on July 28, 2013.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on July 28, 2013. Photographer: Ronen Zvulun/Pool/AFP via Getty Images