Opinion - Editorials   

Yet another attempt

As expected, not much was achieved at the conference on West Asia held recently at Annapolis in the United States. While the Israelis and Palestinians agreed to continue the negotiations on all outstanding issues and arrive at a two-state solution by the end of 2008, they could not set any timeline for the implementation of specific measures. They could not even find mutually acceptable terminology for defining the core issues in the joint statement issued at the end of the conference. Was this attempt to relaunch serious negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority after a gap of seven years a non-starter as detractors have termed it, or is there any hope of making progress? In terms of cold logic, a final agreement might not be out of reach. All concerned know that the issues to be negotiated are the alignment of the Palestinian state’s borders; the division of Jerusalem; the future of the West Bank settlements; and the status of the refugees. They also know that the contours of the final agreement will be more or less on the lines worked out at the 2000 Camp David summit and later refined at the Taba talks. Another reason for optimism is that one issue, very much in contention at one stage, has fallen off the agenda without anyone taking much notice. When the Oslo processes got under way, the question about the quantum of sovereignty for the Palestinian state seemed to pose a great deal of difficulty. Now the debate is focussed on the methods by which the future state will exercise its sovereignty to provide security to its citizens and neighbours.

The Israel-Palestine peace process has not really lacked creative thinking. The leadership on both sides has often lacked the political will to see it through. But even when the two sides were led by strong and popular leaders, the distrust between the peoples engendered over six decades and more proved too difficult to overcome. Today, the Palestinian Authority’s President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert lack mass support. That a part of the Palestinian camp — the Gaza Strip under Hamas rule — opted out of the peace process has also complicated the situation. However, even for a West Bank-first solution to go through, the principals need to be pushed by external powers. President George W. Bush has promised that his administration would provide the necessary encouragement and assistance. After seven years of inaction or worse, few would be prepared to take Mr. Bush at his word.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Malaysia in the wrong
Yet another attempt
Malaysian Indians: a disadvantaged community
A tale of two rallies
Indian farmers need human rights
Chavez’s revolution cannot stand still if it is to survive
Corrections and clarifications
Iran bombshell
Modispeak

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu