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Arab League team in Israel to discuss peace plan

DUBAI: Representatives of the Arab League are in Israel to open discussions on a West Asia peace plan. Jordan’s Foreign Minister Abdel Ilah Al-Khatib and Egypt’s top diplomat Ahmed Aboul Gheit will present the Arab League’s peace plan that was adopted in March during the annual summit of the grouping.

Jordan and Egypt are alone among the Arab countries to have established diplomatic relations with Israel. The Arab initiative proposes normalisation of ties with Israel in return for Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories, the establishment of a Palestinian state and a resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem.

There has been a flurry of activity recently to revive peace talks to address the Palestinian demand for Statehood and Israeli concerns about security. The former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is also in Jerusalem for talks in his capacity as the West Asia envoy of the Quartet — a grouping comprising U.S., Russia, E.U. and the United Nations.

Analysts, however, are sceptical about the success of the Arab League initiative mainly because of the ground situation in the Palestinian territories. Discussions with Israel have begun when Palestinians are deeply divided — the Fatah controls the West Bank and Hamas is in charge of Gaza. The Arabs and the western countries are engaging Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.

However, without the participation of Hamas, no peace plan has any chance of success. Responding to the Blair mission, Hamas spokesman Mahmoud Zahar has warned it was bound to fail if he did not talk to his group. On the contrary, Nabil Amr, an adviser to Mr. Abbas, said, “It would be a disaster for Blair to start talking to Hamas and I would advise him not to talk to them.”

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