Argentina has recognized an independent Palestinian State within the pre-1967 borders, the government announced 6 December. Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said, “the time has come to recognize Palestine as a free and independent state” in a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas he read out to the press.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman noted that “this regrettable decision will not help at all to change the situation between Israel and the Palestinians.” A statement released later said: “Recognition of a Palestinian state is a violation of the interim agreement signed by Israel and the Palestinian Authority in 1995, which established that the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will be discussed and solved through negotiations.”
US polititicians have called the decision “regrettable” and “severely misguided”. The move comes as part of a Palestinian strategy to gain UN support for an independent State. Peace talks between Israel and Palestine have bogged down amid Israel’s refusal to stop building settlements in the territories it occupied in the 1967 war.
The decision follows an similar announcement by Brazil. Uruguay and Paraguay are expected to follow suit in the new year.
Links to other sites: ABC News, Jerusalem Post
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meeting with US officials Thursday 2 September in Washington, DC, have agreed to hold regular talks, starting in September in the Middle East. They will then meet every two weeks. George Mitchell, US President Barack Obama’s special envoy, announced that the purpose of the scheduled meetings “is to establish the fundamental compromises necessary to enable the parties to then flesh out and complete a comprehensive agreement that will end the conflict and establish a lasting peace.”
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, Jerusalem Post, New York Times, NPR, Telegraph, UK
Arab League Secretary-general Amr Moussa announced after an emergency meeting Wednesday 10 March that Palestine is withdrawing from indirect talks with Israel. Moussa reportedly had been phoned by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who said that given Israel’s announcement that it will build 1,600 new settler homes, his government cannot participate in talks. Al Jazeera quotes Moussa as saying “The Palestinian president decided he will not enter into those negotiations now . . . the Palestinian side is not ready to negotiate under the present circumstances.” Al Jazeera interviewed US Vice-president Joe Biden, who is in the region to encourage the talks, which were announced Sunday, just two days before the Israeli announcement about the planned new West Bank construction. Biden told Al Jazeera that “Everyone knows the Palestinians deserve an independent state, the Israelis deserve an independent and secure state and for those kinds of actions to occur when there’s more agreement than disagreement is just destabilising.”
Israel has apologized for the timing of the announcement, and it appears that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was unaware the announcement would be made.
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, CBS News commentary, CNN, Jerusalem Post, Times, UK
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, 74, has said he will not seek re-election in the elections he called for January 2010. He said his decision was not “a manipulation or a manoeuvre” in a speech from his headquarters in Ramallah, on the West Bank 5 November. He said he had had enough after years of frustration. Abbas succeeded long-time president Yasser Arafat in 2004.
Addressing the Israeli public directly, he said: “Peace is more important than any achievement for a political party. Peace is more important than any government coalition. For many years, my opinion and vision have been that peace was still possible and I have sincerely worked to achieve this goal“.
The decision is seen as a blow to the US administration’s attempts to restart the Middle East peace process, coming just days after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to the region, which she judged to be a success. Palestinians were outraged when she said Israel’s offer to slow down illegal settlements in the West Bank was “unprecedented”. Al-Jazeera, Jerusalem Post, New York Times
US President Barack Obama urged the Israeli prime minister and the Palestinian president to drop preconditions and to”take a risk for peace”, in New York 22 September. “It is past time to talk about starting negotiations. It is time to move forward”, Obama said. The three-way talks were described as “direct” and “sometimes blunt”. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has said that Israel must commit to a freeze on settlement building in the occupied territories before talks can begin. Israel has rejected such a freeze. The US previously urged Israel to stop all settlements in order to move the peace process forward.Guardian, New York Times
US President Barack Obama will hold separate meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu in New York, USA, before meeting them together Tuesday 22 September, in an effort to jump-start talks that have stalled largely because of Palestinian intransigence in the face of continued Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
None of the three sides expect much to come out of the meetings, say observers, who note that Obama is keen to have something to show leading up to the UN General Assembly meetings and the subsequent G-20 meetings in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Al-Jazeera, Jerusalem Post, New York Times
US Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, arrived in Cairo, Egypt for talks with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak 27 July, after stops in Syria and Israel. It was Mitchell’s second visit to Damascus, Syria in two months. Talks were “candid and positive.” In Israel, Mitchell met Defense Minister Ehud Barak. After talks in Cairo, Mitchell is to see Palestinian President Abbas, and Israeli leaders 28 July. This is part of a concerted effort by the Obama administration to move the Middle East peace process along. Other senior US administration officials are expected in the region later this week. Al-Jazeera, BBC, Jerusalem Post
