Trilateral leaves Mid-East press cold
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/8270776.stm Version 0 of 1. The trilateral talks were intended to restart the peace process. Tuesday's trilateral meeting between US President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has elicited a distinct lack of enthusiasm in the regional press. Commentators across the political divide are in broad consensus that the summit was devoid of any real substance and that it failed to achieve Mr Obama's aim of relaunching final-status peace talks between the two sides. Commentators in the pro-Fatah Palestinian press say their leader's perceived reluctant attendance left him in a weaker position and urge him not to give up on his demand for a total freeze on construction in Jewish settlements. Hamas-run papers have not yet resumed publishing after Ramadan. In Israel, several dailies suggest Mr Obama should exert more pressure on both sides in order to achieve results. Elsewhere in the region, papers put the lack of progress down to US inability to exert any real pressure on Mr Netanyahu, with one Lebanese daily rejecting the summit as just an attempt on Obama's part to "save face". Only Egypt's al-Akhbar thought it positive that Mr Abbas had met Mr Netanyahu for the first time since the latter returned to office. EDITORIAL IN PALESTINIAN AL-QUDS The tripartite summit was nothing more than a diplomatic sign of appreciation by the Palestinian side for the efforts of the Obama administration... The government of Netanyahu is openly challenging the administration. It is also embarrassing it in front of the world as well as countries that are waiting for a chance to challenge Washington. ASHRAF AL-AJRAMI IN PALESTINIAN AL-AYYAM The tripartite meeting was not a new Palestinian-Israeli negotiation. It was rather a clarification of the positions of the different parties involved in the peace process. Palestinian flexibility, however, should not abandon the initial position ... of a full Israeli commitment to suspend settlement expansion. HANI HABIB IN PALESTINIAN AL-AYYAM Abu-Mazen [Mr Abbas] knows better than anyone else that he took part in this summit unwillingly and that he is weaker now as a result of the internal Palestinian split and the powerlessness of the Arab countries to support his positions. They urge him to be firm but without supporting his steadfastness and firmness. Behind the curtains, however, they ask him to waive more than to stand firm. SHIMON SCHIFFER IN ISRAEL'S YEDIOT AHARONOT The summit the Americans imposed on the Israelis and the Palestinians was supposed to be festive and significant: a tripartite meeting at which the political process between the Israelis and the Palestinians that has been chugging along would be re-launched. But soon they understood that there will be no re-launching - certainly not a festive one - and were content with a photo-op Instead of a tripartite declaration about renewing the political process, the US president was the only one who spoke and only in his own name The bottom line: The summit provided neither regional peace nor gestures towards Israel. NAHUM BARNEA IN ISRAEL'S YEDIOT AHARONOT President Obama summoned the parties to rebuke them, to make clear to them that time is running out and that they should make the moves required for opening the negotiations If this was the message, it was not taken in Judging by what Netanyahu, [Defence Minister Ehud] Barak and [Foreign Minister Avigdor] Lieberman said following the meeting, their feeling was the opposite: They felt they got a US pat on the back. BEN KASPIT IN ISRAEL'S MA'ARIV It has been a long time since so much effort was expended by so many people for so long in order to drag two people to a corridor that leads nowhere Netanyahu and Abu Mazen are now at the opening of this corridor and looking at the dead-end before them. Both know this road by heart Now Obama's turn has come. He will learn at his own cost how misleading this road is. ALUF BENN IN ISRAEL'S HA'ARETZ Obama's real test still awaits him It is not enough to display toughness on live television If Obama really believes what he said yesterday, he will have to be much tougher down the road. Then the stakes will not be a mere meeting devoid of content in a New York hotel, but the future of Jerusalem. HERB KEINON IN ENGLISH-LANGUAGE JERUSALEM POST Good-bye to the dramatic summits that raise expectations sky-high Hello to the long haul and drudgery of trying to change the reality on the ground. AKIVA ELDAR IN ISRAEL'S HA'ARETZ What is most noteworthy about the summit in New York is who was not there - the Israeli peace camp, which has withered away, and Hamas, which is celebrating. EDITORIAL IN LONDON-BASED PAN-ARAB AL-QUDS AL-ARABI Netanyahu has emerged as the winner in this round of talks as he succeeded in imposing all his conditions on both the American and Palestinian sides. He confirmed that he is the real leader of the USA and he is the one deciding the foreign policies of the White House in the Arab region. SAMI AL-ZUBAYDI IN JORDAN'S AL-RA'Y The New York summit represents the crowning of a successful Israeli policy that was able to hinder Mitchell's efforts and to impose a view that argues that continuing settlement activity does not represent an obstacle in the face of holding talks with Palestinian and American officials. SUBHI ZU'AYTAR IN SAUDI AL-WATAN The three leaders knew before the summit that it would fail. Yet, they insisted on holding the meeting. Everybody wants to project his internal crisis outwards. EDITORIAL IN EGYPT'S AL-AKHBAR Yesterday's summit might be a first step on the right road because it is the first time for Abbas and Netanyahu to meet - publicly at least - since the latter assumed power in Israel. Holding this summit might break some ice, something that might open the door for what was unexpected before the summit. RAFIK KHOURY IN LEBANON'S AL-ANWAR The ... meeting was just an attempt to save the face of the US president. It was a theatrical act aimed at covering up the failure to push the peace process forward through talking about the continuation of peace talks. <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk">BBC Monitoring</a> <i>selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.</i> |